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STUDIES  IN  HISTORY 
ECONOMICS  AND 
PUBLIC  LAW  - 

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EDITED  BY 

THt  FACULTY  OF  POLITICAL  SCIENCE 

OF  COLUMBIA  UNIVERSITY 


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VOLUME  FORTY-EIGHT 


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COLUMBIA    UNIVERSITY 

LONGMANS,  GREEN  &  CO.,  AGENTS 

London  :  P.  S.  King  &  Son 

1912 


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CONTENTS 

PAGE 

1 .  An  Encyclopedist  of  the  Dark  Ages  :  Isidore  of  Seville 

— Ernest  Brehaut,  Fh.D i 

2.  Progress  and  Uniformity  in  Child- Labor  Legislation — 

William  F,  Ogburn,  Fh.D 275 


248044 


STUDIES  IN  HISTORY,  ECONOMICS  AND  PUBLIC  LAW 

EDITED  BY  THE  FACULTY  OF  POLITICAL  SCIENCE 
OF  COLUMBIA   UNIVER6ITY 

Volume  XL VIII]  [Number  1 

Whole  Number  120 


AN  ENCYCLOPEDIST  OF  THE 
DARK  AGES 

ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE 

In  saeculorum  fine  doctissimus 

(Ex  concilio  Toletano  viii,  cap-  2) 


ERNEST  BREHAUT,  Ph.D. 


COLUMBIA    UNIVERSITY 

LONGMANS,  GREEN  &  CO.,  AGENTS 

London  :  P.  S.  King  &  Son 

I912 


Copyright,  1912 

BY 

ERNEST  BREHAUT 


I  *   * 
•    a 


PREFACE 

The  writer  of  the  following  pages  undertook,  at  the  sug- 
gestion of  Professor  James  Harvey  Robinson,  to  translate 
passages  from  Isidore's  Etymologies  which  should  serve 
to  illustrate  the  intellectual  condition  of  the  dark  ages.  It 
soon  became  evident  that  a  brief  introduction  to  the  more 
important  subjects  treated  by  Isidore  would  be  necessary, 
in  order  to  give  the  reader  an  idea  of  the  development  of 
these  subjects  at  the  time  at  which  he  wrote.  Finally  it 
seemed  worth  while  to  sum  up  in  a  general  introduction  the 
results  of  this  examination  of  the  Etymologies  and  of  the 
collateral  study  of  Isidore's  other  writings  which  it  in- 
volved. 

For  many  reasons  the  task  of  translating  from  the  Ety- 
mologies has  been  a  difficult  one.  There  is  no  modern  criti- 
cal edition  of  the  work  to  afford  a  reasonable  certainty  as 
to  the  text;  the  Latin,  while  far  superior  to  the  degenerate 
language  of  Gregory  of  Tours,  is  nevertheless  corrupt ;  the 
treatment  is  often  brief  to  the  point  of  obscurity;  the  ter- 
minology of  ancient  science  employed  by  Isidore  is  often 
used  without  a  due  appreciation  of  its  meaning.  However, 
the  greatest  difficulty  in  translating  has  arisen  from  the 
fact  that  the  work  is  chiefly  a  long  succession  of  word  deri- 
vations which  usually  defy  any  attempt  to  render  them  into 
English. 

In  spite  of  these  difficulties  the  study  has  been  one  of 
great  interest.  Isidore  was,  as  Montalambert  calls  him, 
le  dernier  savant  du  monde  ancien,  as  well  as  the  first  Chris- 
tian encyclopaedist.  His  writings,  therefore,  while  of  no 
7]  7 


g/:'-,.'   ::..;.  preface  [8 

importance  in  themselves,  become  important  as  a  phenome- 
non in  the  history  of  European  thought.  His  resort  to 
ancient  science  instead  of  to  philosophy  or  to  poetry  is 
suggestive,  as  is  also  the  wide  variety  of  his  '  sciences  ' 
and  the  attenuated  condition  in  which  they  appear.  Of 
especial  interest  is  Isidore's  state  of  mind,  which  in  many 
ways  is  the  reverse  of  that  of  the  modern  thinker. 

It  is  perhaps  worth  while  to  remark  that  the  writer  has 
had  in  mind  throughout  the  general  aspects  of  the  intel- 
lectual development  of  Isidore's  time:  he  has  not  at- 
tempted to  comment  on  the  technical  details — whether  ac- 
curately given  by  Isidore  or  not — of  the  many  '  sciences  ' 
that  appear  in  the  Etymologies.  The  student  of  the  history 
of  music,  for  example,  or  of  medicine  as  a  technical  sub- 
ject, will  of  course  go  to  the  sources. 

The  writer  is  under  the  greatest  obligation  to  Professors 
James  Harvey  Robinson  and  James  Thomson  Shotwell  for 
assistance  and  advice,  as  well  as  for  the  illuminating  inter- 
pretation of  the  medieval  period  given  in  their  lectures. 
He  is  also  indebted  to  Mr.  Henry  O.  Taylor  and  Pro- 
fessors William  A.  Dunning  and  Munroe  Smith  for  read- 
ing portions  of  the  manuscript.  E.  B. 

Columbia  University,  New  York,  February,  1912. 


CONTENTS 

PART  I 
INTRODUCTION 


CHAPTER  I 
Isidore's  Life  and  Writings 

PAGE 

1.  Importance  of  Isidore 15 

a.  Place  in  history  of  thought 15 

b.  Influence 17 

2.  Historical  setting 18 

a.  The  Roman  culture  in  Spain 18 

b.  Assimilation  of  the  barbarians 18 

c.  Predominance  of  the  church  19 

3-  Life 20 

a.  Family 20 

b.  Leander 20 

c.  Early  years  and  education  21 

d.  Facts  of  his  life 22 

4.  Impression  made  by  Isidore  on  his  contemporaries 23 

Braulio's  account 23 

5.  Works 24 

a.  Braulio's  list 24 

b.  Works  especially  important  as  giving  Isidore's  intellectual  outlook . .  25 

(i )  Differentiae 26 

Stress  on  words 26 

(2)  De  Natura  Rerum   27 

View  of  the  physical  universe 27 

General  organization  of  subject-matter 28 

(3)  Liber  Numerorum 29 

Mysticism  of  number 29 

(4)  Allei^oriae 29 

(5)  Sententiae 29 

(6)  De  Ordine  Creaturarum 30 

9]  9 


lO  CONTENTS  [lO 

PAGE 

c.  His  main  work — the  Eiymologies 30 

(1)  Description  30 

(2)  Contents 31 

(3)  Antiquarian  character 32 

(4)  Leading  principle  of  treatment — ^word  derivation    33 

(5)  Inconsistency  of  thought 34 

(6)  Circumstances  of  production 34 

CHAPTER  II 
Isidore's  Relation  to  Previous  Culture 

1.  Dependance  on  the  past 35 

2.  Ignorance  of  Greek 35 

3.  Relation  to  Latin  writers 37 

a.  The  function  of  the  Christian  writers 37 

b.  The  development  of  the  pagan  thought 37 

(i)  The  encyclopaedias 38 

(a)  Characteristics 38 

Decay  of  thought 38 

Epitomizing  tendency 39 

Literary  scholarship 39 

Scientific  scholarship  . .    40 

(b)  Method  of  production 40 

(c)  Acceptability  of  encyclopaedias  to  the  church  fathers  . .  41 

(d)  Debt  of  Isidore  to  them 41 

(2)  The  encyclopaedias  of  education 43 

4.  The  personal  element  contributed  by  Isidore 44 

5.  Sources  used  by  Isidore 45 

a.  Confusion  of  the  tradition 45 

b.  Investigations  and  their  results 1 45 

CHAPTER  III 
Isidore's  General  View  of  the  Universe 

1.  Introductory  considerations 48 

a.  The  difficulties  in  ascertaining  the  world-view 48 

( 1 )  Inconsistencies 48 

(2)  Unexplained  preconceptions 48 

b.  Conditions  favoring  the  construction  of  a  world-view 49 

2.  The  physical  universe 50 

a.  Form  of  the  universe  ■  • 50 

Question  of  the  sphericity  of  the  earth  .    50 

Greek  cosmology  versus  Christian  cosmology •  •  •  •     54 

b.  Size  of  the  universe 54 

c.  Constitution  of  matter 55 


Il]                                           CONTENTS  II 

PAGE 

The  four  elements e  c 

Properties c  e 

Cosmological  bearing 57 

Bearing  on  the  physical  constitution  of  man 59 

Use  of  the  theory  in  medicine 59 

Phenomena  of  meteorology  explained  by  the  theory 60 

Seasons 61 

d.  Parallelism  of  man  and  the  universe 62 

3.  The  solidarity  of  the  universe  63 

a.  Strangeness  of  Isidore's  thinking 63 

b.  The  conception  of  solidarity 64 

c.  Number 64 

d.  Allegory  65 

4.  The  supernatural  world 67 

a.  Contrast  between  mediaeval  and  modern  views 68 

b.  Method  of  apprehending  the  supernatural  world 68 

c.  Relative  importance  of  natural  and  supernatural 68 

(i)  In  nature 68 

(2)  In  man 69 

(3)  Asceticism 70 

d.  Inhabitants  of  supernatural  world 70 

( 1 )  Theology 70 

(2)  Angelology 70 

(3)  Demonology 72 

5.  View  of  secular  learning 73 

a.  Philosophy 73 

(i)  Conception  of  philosophy  73 

(2)  Attitude  toward  pagan  philosophy 74 

b.  Poetry 74 

c.  Science 75 

( 1 )  Attitude  toward  pagan  science 75 

(2)  Condition  of  pagan  science 76 

(3)  Low  place  accorded  to  science 76 

(4)  Science  harmonized  with  religious  ideas 77 

(5)  Perversity  of  pagan  scientists 78 

6.  View  of  the  past 79 

a.  Pagan  past  as  a  whole  dropped 79 

b.  Idea  of  the  past  dominated  by  Biblical  tradition  79 

c.  Importance  of  Hebrew  history  80 


12  CONTENTS  [l2 

PACK 

CHAPTER  IV 
Isidore's  Relation  to  Education 

1.  Problem  of  Christian  education  8i 

2.  Cassiodorus'  solution 82 

a.  Theology 83 

b.  The  seven  liberal  arts 83 

3.  The  educational  situation  in  Spain 84^ 

4.  Isidore's  solution 85 

a.  Attitude  toward  the  secular  subject-matter 85 

b.  Comprehensive  educational  scheme 86 

( i)  First  eight  books  of  the  Etymologies 86 

(2)  The  higher  and  the  lower  education 87 

5.  Bearing  of  Isidore's  educational  scheme  on  the  development  of  the  uni- 

versities    88 


PART  II 

THE  ETYMOLOGIES 

Book  I 

On  Grammar 

Introduction   89 

Analysis 92 

Extracts 95 

Book  II 

1,  On  Rhetoric  (chs.  1-21) 

Introduction 105 

Analysis 107 

Extracts iii 

2.  On  Logic  (chs.  22-30) 

Introduction  113 

Analysis 115 

Extracts 115 

Book  III 

1.  On  Arithmetic  (chs.  1-9) 

Introduction 1 23 

Extracts  (chs.  1-9) 125 

2.  On  Geometry  (chs.  10-14) 

Introduction   •• 131 

Translation  (chs.  10-14)    132 


13]  CONTENTS  13 

PAGE 

3.  On  Music  (chs.  15-23) 

Introduction 134 

Extracts  (chs.  15-23)   136 

4.  On  Astronomy  (chs.  24-71) 

Introduction 140 

Extracts  (chs.  24-71 ) 142 

Book  IV 

On  Medicine 

Introduction 155 

Extracts 158 

Book  V 

1.  On  Laws  (chs.  1-25) 

Introduction 164 

Extracts  (chs.  1-25) 166 

2.  On  Times  (chs.  28-39) 

Introduction ...    173 

Extracts  ( chs.  28  39)   1 75 

Books  VI-VIII 
[Theology] 

Introduction 183 

Analysis 184 

Extracts — Book  VI.     On  the  Books  and  Services  of  the  Church ...  185 

Extracts — Book  VII.     On  God,  the  Angels  and  the  faithful   192 

Extracts — Book  VIII.     On  the  Church  and  the  different  sects 196 

Book  IX 

On  Languages,  Races,  Empires,  Warfares,  Citizens,  Relationships 

Introduction 207 

Analysis '. 208 

Extracts 208 

BookX 

Alphabetical  List  of  Words 

Extracts    214 

Book  XI 

On  Man  and  Monsters 

Analysis 215 

Extracts 215 


14  CONTENTS  [14 

PAGE 

Book  XII 

On  Animals 

Introduction 222 

Analysis . .  223 

Extracts 223 

Books  XIII  and  XIV 

Introduction 233 

Analysis 233 

Extracts — Book  XIII.     On  the  Universe  and  its  parts 234 

Extracts— -Book  XIV.     On  the  Earth  and  its  parts 243 

Book  XV 

On  Buildings  and  Fields 

Analysis 248 

Extracts 249 

Book  XVII 

On  Stones  and  Metals 

Analysis 252 

Extracts 253 

Book  XVII 

On  Agriculture 

Analysis 258 

Book  XVIII 

On  War  and  Amusements 

Analysis    258 

Extracts 259 

Book  XIX 

On  Ships,  Buildings  and  Garments 

Analysis 261 

Book  XX- 

On  Provisions  and  Utensils  Used  in  the  House  and  in  the  Fields 
Analysis 263 

Appendix  I 

Isidore's  Use  of  the  Word  Ygrra 264 

Appendix  II 

Subdivisions  of  Philosophy 267 

Bibliography   270 


PART  I 
INTRODUCTION 


CHAPTER  I 
Isidore's  Life  and  Writings 

The  development  of  European  thought  as  we  know  it 
from  the  dawn  of  history  down  to  the  Dark  Ages  is  marked 
by  the  successive  secularization  and  de-secularization  of 
knowledge.^  From  the  beginning  Greek  secular  science  can 
be  seen  painfully  disengaging  itself  from  superstition.  For 
some  centuries  it  succeeded  in  maintaining  its  separate  exist- 
ence and  made  wonderful  advances ;  then  it  was  obliged  to 
give  way  before  a  new  and  stronger  set  of  superstitions 
which  may  be  roughly  called  Oriental.  In  the  following 
centuries  all  those  branches  of  thought  which  had  separated 
themselves  from  superstition  again  returned  completely  to 
its  cover;  knowledge  was  completely  de-secularized,  the 
final  influence  in  this  process  being  the  victory  of  Neo- 
platonized  Christianity.^  The  sciences  disappeared  as  liv- 
ing realities,  their  names  and  a  few  lifeless  and  scattered 

*  Cf.S.  Reinach,  Orpheus,  p.  36. 

'  Neoplatonism,  the  last  phase  in  the  decline  of  ancient  philosophy, 
profoundly  influenced  the  Christian  philosophy  of  patristic  and  medi- 
eval timesy  for  which  it  ^epared  the  way.  The  "first  principle"  of 
this  philosophy  was  "the  supra-rational,  that  which  lies  beyond  reason 
and  beyond  reality."  It  was  from  this  source  that  Christian  mysticism 
and  contempt  for  empirical  knowledge  were  largely  drawn.  It  has 
been  said  that  Catholic  Christianity  "conquered  Neoplatonism  after  it 
had  assimilated  nearly  everything  that  it  possessed."  Its  influence  was 
far  greater  in  the  eastern  than  in  the  western  empire.  See  Harnack, 
History  of  Dogma,  vol.  i,  App.  3,  for  a  brief  account  of  Neoplatonism. 
See  also  Encycl.  Brit.,  nth  edition,  Art.  "Neoplatonism." 

15]  15 


1 6  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [i6 

fragments  being  all  that  remained.    They  did  not  reappear 
as  realities  until  the  medieval  period  ended. 

This  process  of  de-secularization  was  marked  by  two 
leading  characteristics ;  on  the  one  hand,  by  the  loss  of  that 
contact  with  physical  reality  through  systematic  observa- 
tion which  alone  had  given  life  to  Greek  natural  science, 
and  on  the  other,  by  a  concentration  of  attention  upon  what 
were  believed  to  be  the  superior  realities  of  the  spiritual 
world.  The  consideration  of  these  latter  became  so  intense, 
so  detailed  and  systematic,  that  there  was  little  energy  left 
among  thinking  men  for  anything  else. 

At  the  point  where  this  de-secularizing  process  was  com- 
plete, at  the  opening  of  the  seventh  century,  lived  the  Span- 
ish bishop  and  scholar,  Isidore  of  Seville.  His  many  writ- 
ings, and  especially  his  great  encyclopedia,  the  Etymologies, 
are  among  the  most  important  sources  for  the  history  of 
intellectual  culture  in  the  early  middle  ages,  since  in  them 
are  gathered  together  and  summed  up  all  such  dead  rem- 
nants of  secular  learning  as  had  not  been  absolutely  re- 
jected by  the  superstition  of  his  own  and  earlier  ages;  they 
furnish,  so  to  speak,  a  cross-section  of  the  debris  of  scien- 
tific thought  at  the  point  where  it  is  most  artificial  and 
unreal. 

The  resume  that  Isidore  offers  is  strikingly  complete.  In 
this  respect  he  surpasses  all  the  writers  of  his  own  and  im- 
mediately preceding  periods,  his  scope  being  much  more 
general  than  that  of  his  nearest  contemporaries,  Boethius 
and  Cassiodorus.  He  goes  back  here  to  the  tradition  of  the 
encyclopedists  of  the  Roman  world,  Varro,  Verrius  Flac- 
cus,  Pliny,  and  Suetonius,  by  the  last  of  whom  he  is  believed 
to  have  been  especially  influenced.  Few  writers  of  any 
period  cover  the  intellectual  interests  of  their  time  so  com- 
pletely. ('To  understand  Isidore's  mental  world  is  nearly 
to  reach  the  limits  of  the  knowledge  of  his  time.^ 
*  Nihil   enim   Isidorus  intentatum   reliquit :    facultates  omnes   attigit, 


ly]  ISIDORE'S  LIFE  AND  WRITINGS  17 

The  influence  which  he  exerted  upon  the  following  cen- 
turies was  very  great.  His  organization  of  the  field  of 
secular  science,  although  it  amounted  to  no  more  than  the 
laying  out  of  a  corpse,  was  that  chiefly  accepted  throughout 
the  early  medieval  period.  The  innumerable  references  to 
him  by  later  writers/  the  many  remaining  manuscripts,'*^ 
and  the  successive  editions  of  his  works  ^  after  the  inven- 
tion of  printing,  indicate  the  great  role  he  played.*  From 
the  modern  point  of  view  the  real  benefit  he  conferred  upon 
succeeding  centuries  was  that  in  his  encyclopaedic  writings 
he  presentied  to  the  intelligent  the  fact  that  there  had  been 
and  might  be  such  a  thing  as  secular  science;  while  the 

scientias  humanas  divinasque  pertractavit,  scriptores  veteres  profanos  et 
sacros  evolvit,  atque  in  suum  usum  descripsit ;  nee  contemtus  etymolo- 
gioo  sue  ,opere  sciendarum  encyclopaediam  comprehendere,  multa  singil- 
latim  in  sacrarum  litterarum  interpretatione  disseruit,  multa  in  omni 
alio  theologiae  genere,  multa  in  philosophicis  atque  astronomicis  argu- 
mentis,  multa  in  re  litteraria,  chronologica  et  historica.  Arevalo,  Pro- 
legomena in  EdiHonem  S.  IsidOri  Hispalensis,  cap.  i,  3. 

*  Arevalo  in  his  Prolegomena,  cap.  Z2)y  collects  passages  containing 
"  laudes  Isidori "  from  medieval  writers,  including  Fredegarius,  Alcuin, 
William  of  Malrnesbury,  Vincent  of  Beauvais,  and  others.  Isidore  is 
cited  by  Petrarch  in  a  way  which  shows  that  he  was  much  read  in  his 
time.  Petrarch  is  giving  authorities  for  his  theory  of  poetry,  and 
after  mentioming  Varro  and  Suetonius,  he  says :  '*  Then  I  can  add  a 
third  name,  which  -will  probably  be  better  known  to  you,  Isidore."  Cf. 
Robinson  and  Rolfe,  Petrarch,  p.  263. 

^  Ac  portenti  quidem  simile  est,  quot  mihi  antiquissimi  Isidori  Codices 
in  Urbis  (Rome)  bibliothecis  sed  maxime  in  Vaticana  occurrerint. 
Arevalo,  Prolegomena,  cap.  i,  7.  Manuscripts  of  Isidore's  works  are 
numerous  also  in  Spain  and  France. 

'  The  editions  of  Isidore's  complete  works  are  as  follows:  (i)  that 
of  de  la  Eigne  published  at  Paris  in  1580;  (2)  that  of  Grial,  Madrid, 
1599;  (3)  that  of  du  Breul,  Paris,  i6oi";  that  of  Arevalus,  Rome,  1796. 
Arevalus,  in  the  Prolegomena  to  his  edition,  enumerates  ten  editions  of 
the  Etymologies  between  1477  and  1577.  Others  of  Isidore's  works  ap- 
peared also  in  frequent  separate  editions. 

*  See  Canal,  San  Isidoro,  ch.  7. 


l8  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [ig 

blunders  in  which  he  was  continually  involved,  and  the 
shallowness  of  his  thinking,  ofifered  a  perpetual  challenge 
to  the  critical  power  of  all  who  read  him.  There  was  con- 
tained in  his  writings  also,  as  we  shall  see,  the  embryo  of 
something  positive  and  progressive,  namely,  the  organiza- 
tion of  educational  subjects  that  was  to  appear  definitely  in 
the  medieval  university  and  dominate  education  almost  to 
the  present  day. 

For  a  fuller  understanding  of  Isidore's  historical  setting 
some  attention  must  be  given  to  the  country  in  which  he 
lived.  Spanish  culture  in  the  early  middle  ages  seems  to 
have  been  relatively  superior.  It  is  well  known  that  the 
country  had  been  thoroughly  Romanized.  How  complete 
the  process  had  been  may  be  judged  from  the  list  of  men 
of  Spanish  birth  who  had  won  distinction  in  the  wider 
world  of  the  empire;  it  includes  the  two  Senecas,  Lucan^ 
Quintilian,  Martial,  Hyginus,  Pomponius  Mela,  Columella, 
Orosius,  and  the  two  emperors,  Trajan  and  Hadrian.  In 
fact  Spain  had  lost  its  individuality  and  had  become  an  in- 
tegral part  of  the  Roman  world,  little  inferior  in  its  culture 
even  to  Italy  itself ;  and  the  close  of  Roman  rule  found  the 
people  of  Spain  speaking  the  Latin  language,  reading  the 
Latin  literature,  and  habituated  to  Roman  institutions  and 
modes  of  thought. 

Moreover  the  continuity  of  this  ancient  culture  had  been 
perhaps  less  rudely  disturbed  in  Spain  than  elsewhere  by 
the  shock  of  the  barbaric  invasions.  Here  its  geographical 
situation  stood  the  country  in  good  stead;  the  barbarian 
frontier  was  far  away  and  the  chances  were  that  barbarians 
destined  by  fortune  to  enter  Spain  would  first  spend  much 
time  in  aimless  wandering  within  the  empire,  with  conse- 
quent loss  of  numbers  and  some  lessening  of  savagery. 
Such,  at  least,  was  the  case  with  the  Visigoths,  who  alone 


Iq]  ISIDORE'S  LIFE  AND  WRITINGS  iq 

of  the  barbarians  proved  a  permanent  factor  in  the  coun- 
try's development.  They  were  first  admitted  to  the  empire 
in  376,  and  must  have  passed  largely  into  the  second  gen- 
eration before  they  began  to  penetrate  into  Spain,  while  the 
real  conquest  by  them  did  not  begin  until  much  later.  "  At 
the  time  of  their  appearance  as  a  governing  aristocracy  in 
Spain  "  they  *'  had  become  by  long  contact  with  the  Romans 
to  all  intents  and  purposes  a  civilized  people."  ^  They  were 
thus  in  a  position  to  coalesce  with  the  Romanized  natives, 
and  that  this  was  largely  brought  to  pass  is  shown  by  the 
conversion  of  the  Arian  Goths  to  orthodoxy,  the  removal 
of  the  ban  of  intermarriage  between  the  two  races,  the  use 
of  Latin  in  all  official  documents,  and  finally  by  the  estab- 
lishment of  a  common  law  for  both  peoples.  The  "sixty-one 
correct  hexameters  "  of  the  Visigothic  king  Sisebutus  (612- 
620),^  compared,  for  instance,  with  the  absolutely  hope- 
less attempts  of  Charlemagne  two  centuries  later  to  learn 
the  art  of  tracing  letters,*  show  plainly  that  Spanish  cul- 
ture had  not  sunk  to  the  level  of  that  of  other  parts  of  the 
western  empire.* 

In  this  cultural  struggle  which  had  taken  place  between 
the  native  population  and  their  Visigothic  rulers  the  con- 
test between  orthodox  Christianity  and  Arianism  had  been 
of  prime  importance,  and  its  settlement  of  the  utmost  sig- 
nificance.    Since  the  Spaniards  upheld  the  orthodox  faith 

*  Martin  A.  S.  Hume,  The  Spanish  People,  p.  45. 

'  See  Teuffel  and  Schwabe,  History  of  Roman  Literature,  vol.  ii,  sec. 
495,  I,  and  Poetae  Latini  Minores,  5,  357. 

^  See  Einhard,  Vita  Caroli  Magni  in  Monumenta  Germaniae  Histor- 
ica,  Scrip  tores  (Pertz  ed.),  vol.  ii,  p.  456. 

*  Another  factor  in  the  history  of  Spain  at  this  time  that  may  have 
had  a  slight  influence  on  the  culture  of  the  country  was  the  re- 
occupaition  of  the  southeastern  part  of  the  country  by  the  Eastern 
Empire,  which  lasted  from  Justinian's  time  down  to  628.  The  region 
so  held  included  even  Seville  for  some  years. 


20  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [20 

and  the  Visigoths  were  Arians,  the  victory  of  orthodoxy 
was  a  victory  of  the  native  element  over  the  newcomers. 
By  this  victory,  therefore,  a  position  of  predominance  un- 
usual for  the  time  was  given  to  the  Spanish  church  organ- 
ization, and  the  bishops,  the  leaders  of  the  church  in  the 
struggle,  became  the  most  powerful  men  in  the  nation. 
Their  power  was  further  strengthened  by  the  weakening 
of  the  secular  power  when  the  Visigothic  royal  line  became 
extinct  and  it  proved  impossible  to  secure  a  successor  to  it 
from  among  the  families  of  the  turbulent  nobility.  From 
the  conversion  of  the  Visigoths  in  587  to  the  invasion  of 
the  Saracens,  Spain  was  a  country  dominated  by  bishops.^ 

Of  Isidore's  life  surprisingly  little  is  known,  considering 
the  bulk  and  importance  of  his  writings  and  his  later  fame.* 
All  that  can  be  ascertained  of  his  family  is  that  it  belonged 
originally  to  Cartagena,  that  it  was  of  the  orthodox  re- 
ligion, and  that  the  names  of  its  members  are  Roman.'  It 
is  extremely  probable  that  it  belonged  to  the  Hispano- 
Roman  element  of  the  population.  That  Isidore  and  his 
two  brothers  were  bishops  may  be  taken  to  show  that  of 
whatever  origin  the  family  was,  it  was  one  of  power  and 
influence. 

A  word  may  be  said  of  his  elder  brother,  Leander,  who 
was  a  man  of  perhaps  greater  force  than  Isidore  himself. 

^  For  the  history  of  Spain  under  the  Visigoths,  see  Lavisse  et  Ram- 
baud,  Histoire  Generale,  vol.  i,  chap.  3  (by  M.  A.  Berthelot),  and  Alta- 
mira,  Historia  de  Espana,  vol.  i,  cTi. 

2  In  the  Acta  Sanctorum,  Aprilis  i  (April  4)  is  the  life  of  Isidore 
supposed  to  have  been  written  by  Lucas  Tudensis  (13th  century).  Are- 
valo  also  gives  a  life  by  Rodericus  Cerratensis  (also  13th  century). 
These  *  lives '  are  full  of  fables  and  cannot  be  trusted  as  sole  author- 
ities for  any  detail  of  Isidore's  career. 

*  Severianus,  Leander,  Fulgentius,  Florentina. 


21]  ISIDORE'S  LIFE  AND  WRITINGS  21 

Born  at  Cartagena,  he  became  a  monk,  and  later,  bishop  of 
Seville.  He  was  the  chief  leader  of  the  orthodox  party  in 
its  struggle  against  "  the  Arian  insanity ",  and  in  the 
heat  of  the  conflict  was  obliged  to  absent  himself  from 
Spain  for  a  time.  He  visited  Constantinople  and  there 
became  the  friend  of  Gregory  the  Great.^  Returning  to 
Spain,  we  find  him,  under  king  Reccared  in  587,  presid- 
ing over  the  council  of  Toledo,  at  which  the  Visigothic 
kingdom  turned  formally  from  Arianism.  Leander  was' 
a  man  of  action  rather  than  a  writer,  but  according  to 
Isidore  he  engaged  in  controversy  with  the  heretical 
party,  "  overwhelming  the  Arian  impiety  with  a  vehe- 
ment pen  and  revealing  its  wickedness  ".  He  wrote  also 
a  little  book,  which  we  still  have,  "  On  the  training  of 
nuns  and  contempt  for  the  world  ",^  and  contributed  music 
and  prayers  to  the  church  service.  There  seems  to  be  no 
doubt  that  Leander  was  the  foremost  churchman  of  his 
time  in  Spain.  The  prestige  of  his  name  must  have  made 
it  easier  for  his  successor,  Isidore,  to  devote  himself  to  the 
intellectual  rather  than  to  the  administrative  leadership  of 
the  church.^ 

As  to  Isidore's  early  years  our  only  authentic  informa- 
tion is  that  his  parents  died  while  he  was  still  young,  and 
left  him  in  the  care  of  Leander.  It  is  very  probable,  how- 
ever, that  he  looked  forward  from  the  beginning  to  the 
clerical  life  which  his  brothers  had  chosen  and  that  he 
therefore  went  through  the  educational  routine  as  laid 
down  for  churchmen,  which  was  practically  the  only  formal 
education  of  the  time.     The  best  proof  of  this  lies  in 

*  Gregory's  Moralia  is  dedicated  to  Leander. 

2  Sancti  Leandri  Hispalensis  Einscopi  Regula  sive  de  institutione  vir- 
ginunt  et  contemptu  mundi,  in  Migne,  Pair.  Lat.,  vol.  72,  col.  866-898. 

•  Isidori  De  Viris  lUustribus  Liber,  cap.  41. 


22  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [22 

the  fact  that  Isidore  wrote  text-books  of  the  liberal  arts — 
a  task  that  would  have  been  well-nigh  impossible  to  one 
who  had  not  been  drilled  in  them  in  his  youth.^ 

Isidore  succeeded  his  brother  Leander  in  the  bishopric 
of  Seville  probably  in  the  year  600.*  His  few  remaining 
letters,  written  in  the  stilted  religious  phraseology  of  the 
day,  give  the  impression  that  he  was  much  consulted  on 
ecclesiastical  and  political  matters,  and  that  he  held  a  posi- 
tion of  primacy  among  the  Spanish  bishops;  but  on  the 
whole  they  contain  remarkably  little  that  is  of  personal  in- 
terest. From  the  records  of  the  councils  we  learn  that  he 
presided  at  the  second  council  of  Seville  in  619,  and  prob- 
ably also  at  the  fourth  of  Toledo  in  633.*  According  to  a 
contemporary  account  written  by  a  cleric  named  Redemp- 
tus,  he  died  in  April  of  636.  No  other  details  of  import- 
ance are  known  about  his  life.  His  career  must  have  been 
a  placid  and  uneventful  one,  and  evidently  much  of  his  time 
was  spent  on  his  voluminous  writings,  which  were  the 
means  by  which  he  won  his  great  ascendancy  over  the 
minds  of  his  contemporaries.* 

*  In  one  of  Isidore's  letters,  addressed  to  Duke  Claudius  (Claudio 
duci),  he  says:  "Memento  comnmnis  nostri  doctoris  Leandri."  This 
seems  to  point  to  formal  instruction  given  by  Leander,  and  possibly  to 
the  existence  of  a  school  at  Seville.    Migne,  P.  L,  83,  col.  905. 

^  Isidore,  in  his  life  of  Leander  {De  Viris  Illustribus,  cap.  41),  says: 
"(Leander)  fluorit  sub  Reccaredo  (d.  601)  .  .  .  cujus  etiam  tempore 
vitae  terminum  clausit."  Ildephonsus,  in  his  life  of  Isidore  (d.  636), 
says  of  him,  "Annis  fere  quadraginta  tenens  pontificatus  honorem " 
(Migne,  P.  L.  82,  col.  68).  Gregory  the  Great  has  a  letter 'to  Leander 
and  ooie  to  Reccared  belonging  to  the  year  598-599  (Migne,  P.  L.  77, 
col.  1050-1056). 

'  Gams,  Kirchengeschichte  von  Spanien  ii,  2,  pp.  89,  loi. 

*  Contemporary  sources  for  Isidore's  life  are :  the  passage  in  the 
regula  of  his  brother  Leander  (Migne,  P.  L.  72,  col.  892)  ;  *he  corres- 
pondence of  Isidore  (Migne,  P.  L.,  83,  col.  893)  ;  Braulio's  Introduction 
to  Isidore's  works  (Migne,  P.  L.  82,  col.  65)  ;  the  life  of  Isidore  given 


2^]  ISIDORE'S  LIFE  AND  WRITINGS  23 

Perhaps  the  most  reliable  account  of  the  impression 
which  Isidore  made  on  the  men  of  his  own  time  is  given  in 
the  somewhat  ponderous  Introduction  to  his  works  fur- 
nished by  his  friend  and  correspondent,  Braulio,  bishop  of 
Saragossa :  ^ 

Isidore,  a  man  of  great  distinction,  bishop  of  the  church  of 
Seville,  successor  and  brother  of  bishop  Leander,  flourished 
from  the  time  of  Emperor  Maurice  and  King  Reccared.  In 
him  antiquity  reasserted  itself — or  rather,  our  time  laid  in  him 
a  picture  of  the  wisdom  of  antiquity :  a  man  practiced  in  every 
form  of  speech,  he  adapted  himself  in  the  quality  of  his  words 
to  the  ignorant  and  the  learned,  and  was  distinguished  for 
unequalled  eloquence  when  there  was  fit  opportunity.^  Fur- 
thermore, the  intelligent  reader  will  be  able  to  understand  easily 
from  his  diversified  studies  and  the  works  he  has  completed, 
how  great  was  his  wisdom.  .  .  .  God  raised  him  up  in  recent 
times  after  the  many  reverses  of  Spain  (I  suppose  to  revive 
the  works  of  the  ancients  that  we  might  not  always  grow  duller 
from  boorish  rusticity),  and  set  him  as  a  sort  of  support.  And 
with  good  right  do  we  apply  to  him  the  famous  words  of  the 
philosopher :  ^  "  While  we  were  strangers  in  our  own  city,  and 
were,  so  to  speak,  sojourners  who  had  lost  our  way,  your  books 

by  Ildephonsus,  bis-hop  of  Tokdo  (d  667)  in  his  continuation  of  Isi- 
dore's De  Viris  Illustribus;  and  the  letter  of  the  clerk  Redemptus,  de- 
scribing Isidore's  death  (Migne,  P.  L.  82,  col.  68). 

1  Sancti  Braulionis,  Caesaraugust.  episcopi  Praenotatio  librorum  Isi- 
dori,  Migne,  P.  L.  82,  col.  65. 

'  The  reference  in  this  passage  is  undoubtedly  to  the  difference  be- 
tween the  colloquial  Latin  and  that  of  the  scholar.  The  same  consid- 
eration may  perhaps  explain  the  decidedly  peculiar  comment  of  Ilde- 
phonsus on  Isidore  as  a  public  speaker:  "Nam  tantae  jucunditatis 
affluentem  copiam  in  eloquendo  promeruit,  ut  ubertas  admiranda  dicendi 
ex  eo  in  stuporem  verteret  audientes,  ex  quo  audita  bis,  qui  audisset 
non  nisi  repetita  saepius  commendaret."    Migne,  P.  L.  82,  col.  68.  • 

'  This  passage  is  found  in  Cicero,  Academica  Posteriora  i,  3,  and  is 
addressed  to  Varro. 


24  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [24 

brought  us  home,  as  it  were,  so  that  we  could  at  last  recognize 
who  and  where  we  were.  You  have  discussed  the  antiquity  of 
our  fatherland,  the  orderly  arrangement  of  chronology,  the  laws 
of  sacrifices  and  of  priests,  the  discipline  of  the  home  and  the 
state,  the  situation  of  regions  and  places,  the  names,  kinds, 
functions  and  causes  of  all  things  human  and  divine. 

From  this  characterization,  as  well  as  from  the  very 
brief  life  by  another  contemporary.  Bishop  Ildephonsus  of 
Toledo,  it  is  evident  that  Isidore  impressed  his  own  age 
chiefly  as  a  writer  and  man  of  learning.  Both  Braulio  and 
Ildephonsus  give  lists  of  his  works.  That  of  the  former, 
who  was  Isidore's  pupil  and  correspondent,  is  the  fuller, 
and  may  be  regarded  as  the  more  reliable.  With  its  run- 
ning comment  on  the  content  of  each  title,  it  is  as  follows : 

I  have  noted  the  following  among  those  works  [of  Isidore] 
that  have  come  to  my  knowledge.  He  wrote  the  Differentiae, 
in  two  books,  in  which  he  subtly  distinguished  in  meaning  what 
was  confused  in  usage;  the  Proosmia,  in  one  book,  in  which 
he  stated  briefly  what  each  book  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  con- 
tains; the  De  Ortu  et  Ohitu  Patrum,  in  one  book,  in  which  he 
describes  with  sententious  brevity  the  deeds  of  the  Fathers, 
their  worth  as  well,  and  their  death  and  burial ;  the  OfUcia,  in 
two  books,  addressed  to  his  brother  Fulgentius,  bishop  of  Astigi, 
in  which  he  described  in  his  own  words,  following  the  authority 
of  the  Fathers,  why  each  and  every  thing  is  done  in  the  church 
of  God ;  the  Synonyma,  in  two  books,  in  which  Reason  appears 
and  comforts  the  Soul,  and  arouses  in  it  the  hope  of  obtaining 
pardon ;  the  De  Natura  Reruin,  in  one  book,  addressed  to  King 
Sisebut,  in  which  he  cleared  up  certain  .obscurities  about  the 
elements  by  studying  the  works  of  the  church  Fathers  as  well 
as  those  of  the  philosophers ;  the  De  Numeris,  in  one  book,  in 
which  he  touched  on  the  science  of  arithmetic,  on  account  of 
the  numbers  found  in  the  Scriptures ;  the  De  Nominibus  Legis 
et  Evangeliorum,  in  one  book,  in  which  he  revealed  what  the 


25]  ISIDORE'S  LIFE  AND  WRITINGS  25 

names  of  persons  [in  the  Bible]  signify  mystically;  the  De  Hae- 
resibus,  in  one  book,  in  which,  following  the  example  of  the 
Fatliers,  he  collected  scattered  items  with  what  brevity  he 
could;  the  Sententiae,  in  three  books,  which  he  adorned  with 
passages  from  the  Moralia  of  Pope  Gregory;  the  Chronica,  in 
one  book,  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  to  his  own  time, 
put  together  with  great  brevity;  the  Contra  Judaeos,  in  two 
books,  written  at  the  request  of  his  sister  Florentina,  a  nun, 
in  which  he  proved  by  evidences  from  the  Law  and  the 
Prophets  all  that  the  Catholic  faith  maintains;  the  De  Viris 
Illustribus,  in  one  book,  to  which  we  are  appending  this  list; 
one  book  containing  a  rule  for  monks,  which  he  tempered  in  a 
most  seemly  way  to  the  usage  of  his  country  and  the  spirits  of 
the  weak;  the  De  Origine  Gotharum  et  Regno  Suevorum  et 
etiam  Vandalorum  Historia,  in  one  book;  the  Quaestiones,  in 
two  books,  in  which  the  reader  recognizes  much  material  from 
the  old  treatments;  and  the  Etymologiaej  a  vast  work  which 
he  left  unfinished,  and  which  I  have  divided  into  twenty  books, 
since  he  wrote  it  at  my  request.  And  whoever  meditatively 
reads  this  work,  which  is  in  every  way  profitable  for  wisdom, 
will  not  be  ignorant  of  human  and  divine  matters.  There  is 
an  exceeding  elegance  in  his  treatment  oi  the  different  arts  in 
this  work  in  which  he  has  gathered  well-nigh  everything  that 
ought  to  be  known.  There  are  also  many  slight  works,  and 
inscriptions  in  the  church  of  God,  done  by  him  with  great 
grace.  ^ 

For  the  present  purpose,  which  is  to  ascertain  something 
of  the  intellectual  outlook  of  the  dark  ages,  the  Etymolo- 
giae  is,  of  course,  of  prime  importance,  since  it  contains 

^  Braulio's  list  mentions  a  Liber  de  Haeresibus  which  does  not  ap- 
pear in  Arevalo's  edition,  and  fails  to  mention  the  Liber  de  Ordine 
Creaturarum  and  the  Epistolae,  which  are  included.  Ildephonsus's  list 
is  still  less  complete,  leaving  out  the  Procemia,  Allegoriae,  Numeri, 
Officia,  Regula,  de  Ordine  Creaturarum,  Chronicon,  de  Viris  Illustribus, 
and  the  Epistolae. 


26  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [26 

in  condensed  form  nearly  everything  that  Isidore  has 
written  elsewhere.  A  passing  attention,  however,  should 
be  given  to  some  of  his  other  works,  especially  those  of  the 
more  secular  sort,  in  which  his  characteristic  ideas  are  fre- 
quently developed  with  greater  fullness  than  in  the  £^3^- 
mologies  itself.  These  include  in  particular  the  Differ  en- 
tiae,  the  De  Natura  Rerum,  the  Liher  Niinierorum,  the  Al- 
legoriae,  the  Sententiae,  and  the  De  Ordine  Creaturarnm. 

The  Diiferentiae  is  in  two  books,  the  first  of  which  treats 
of  differences,  of  words,  and  the  second,  of  differences  of 
things.  The  plan  of  the  first  book  is  alphabetical;  words 
are  ranged  in  pairs  and  distinguished  from  each  other. 
Usually  these  words  are  synonyms,  and  directions  are 
given  for  their  proper  use;  as,  populus  and  plehs,  recens 
and  novus,  religio  and  iides;  but  frequently  words  of  simi- 
lar sound  are  distinguished;  as,  vis  and  his,  hora  and  ora, 
hos  and  os,  marem  and  mare.  From  these  latter  valuable 
hints  on  the  Latin  pronunciation  of  the  time  may  be  ob- 
tained. 

The  second  book.  On  Differences  of  Things,  treats  in  a 
brief  way  of  such  distinctions  as  those  between  deus  and 
dominus;  between  the  nativity  of  Christ  and  of  man;  be- 
tween angels,  demons,  and  men;  angelic  and  human  wick- 
edness; animus  and  anima;  the  grace  of  God  and  the  will 
of  man;  the  life  of  action  and  that  of  contemplation. 

The  introductory  remarks  of  the  Differentiae  are  worth 
translating,  since  they  reveal  one  of  the  most  marked  char- 
acteristics of  Isidore's  thinking,  the  stress  that  he  laid  on 
words.    They  are  as  follows : 

Many  of  the  ancients  sought  to  define  the  differences  of  words, 
making  some  subtle  distinction  between  word  and  word.  But 
the  heathen  poets  disregarded  the  proper  meanings  of  words 
under  the  compulsion  of  metre.  And  so,  beginning  with  them, 
it  became  the  custom  for  writers  to  use  words  without  proper 


2'^]  ISIDORE'S  LIFE  AND  WRITINGS  27 

discrimination.  But  although  words  seem  aHke,  still  they  are 
distinguished  from  one  another  by  having  each  an  origin  of  its 
own.^  Cato  was  the  first  of  the  Latins  to  write  on  this  sub- 
ject,^ after  whose  example  I  have  in  part  written  myself  of  a 
very  few,  and  have  in  part  taken  them  from  the  books  of  the 
writers.^ 

The  De  Natura  Rerum  *  is  a  work  of  great  importance 
for  an  understanding  of  Isidore's  view  of  the  physical  uni- 
verse. The  preface  is  of  especial  interest  as  giving  some 
hints  of  his  methods  of  literary  work  and  of  his  attitude 
toward  pagan  writers.  It  is  addressed  to  Sisebutus,  who 
was  king  of  the  Visigoths  from  612  to  620.^  It  runs  as 
follows : 

Although,  as  I  know,  you  excel  in  talent  and  eloquence  and  in 
the  varied  accomplishments  of  literature  (vario  Hove  lit  era- 
rum)  ^  you  are  still  anxious  for  greater  attainment,  and  you 
ask  me  to  explain  to  you  something  of  the  nature  and  causes 
of  things.  I,  on  my  part,  have  run  over  the  works  of  earlier 
writers,  and  am  not  slow  to  satisfy  your  interest  and  desire, 
describing  in  part  the  system  of  the  days  and  months;  the 
goals  of  the  year,  as  well,  and  the  changes  of  the  seasons ;  the 
nature  also  of  the  elements ;  the  courses  of  the  sun  and  moon, 
and  the  significance  of  certain  stars  f  the  signs  of  the  weather, 

^  Quadam  propria  origine. 

'  Cato  did  not  himself  write  on  synonyms.  But  Isidore  probably  got 
this  idea  from  the  fact  that  synonyms  were  excerpted  from  his  writings 
by  later  grammarians.  See  Teuffel,  History  of  Roman  Literature, 
121,  6. 

'  Migne  P.  L.  %z>  col.  9. 

*  There  is  a  critical  edition  of  De  Natura  Rerum  by  G.  Becker,  Ber- 
lin, 1857. 

'  Isidore  describes  this  ruler  in  his  History  of  the  Goths  as  scientia 
literarum  magna  ex  parte  imbutus.     See  Migne,  P.  L.  83,  col.  1073. 

*  "  The  higher  meaning."  Compare  De  Natura  Rerum,  chapter  26,  4 : 
"  Per  hunc  Arcturum,  id  est,  Septentrionem,  Ecclesiam  septenaria  vir- 
tute  fulgentem  intelligimus. 


28  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [2g 

too,  and  of  the  winds ;  and  besides,  the  situation  of  the  earth,, 
and  the  ahernate  tides  of  the  sea.  And  setting  forth  all  things 
as  they  are  written  by  the  ancients,  and  especially  in  the  works 
of  catholic  writers,  we  have  described  them  briefly.  For  to 
know  the  nature  of  these  things  is  not  the  wisdom  of  super- 
stition, if  only  they  are  considered  with  sound  and  sober  learn- 
ing. Nay,  if  they  were  in  every  way  far  removed  from  the 
search  for  the  truth,  that  wise  king  would  by  no  means  have 
said :  "  Ipse  mihi  dedit  horum  quae  sunt  scientiam  veram  ut 
sciam  dispositionem  coeli  et  virtutes  elementorum,  conver- 
sionum  mutationes,  et  divisiones  temp>orum,  annorum  cursus  et 
stellarum  dispositiones." 

Wherefore,  beginning  with  the  day,  whose  creation  appears 
first  in  the  order  of  visible  things,  let  us  expound  those  re- 
maining matters  as  to  which  we  know  that  certain  men  of  the 
heathen  and  of  the  church  have  opinions,  setting  down  in  some 
cases  both  their  thoughts  and  words,  in  order  that  the  authority 
of  the  very  words  may  carry  belief. 

The  general  organization  of  the  matter  treated  by  Isidore 
in  the  De  Natura  Rerum  is  worth  noticing.  The  preface 
quoted  above  indicates  that  the  order  of  treatment  is  to 
follow  the  order  of  creation.  The  first  topic,  therefore,  sug- 
gested by  the  creation  of  light,  we  should  expect  to  be  the 
phenomenon  of  light.  Instead  of  this  it  is  the  day,  in  the 
calendar  sense,  that  is  described,  with  the  natural  sequel  of 
the  week,  month,  and  year  as  collections  of  days.  This 
section  really  constitutes  a  brief  account  of  the  elements  of 
chronology.  Next  created  are  the  heavens;  so  we  have 
next  astronomy,  presented  in  a  condensed  form,  to  which 
are  appended  a  few  chapters  on  meteorological  matters,  such 
as  thunder,  clouds,  the  rainbow,  wind,  and  finally  pestilence, 
which  comes  in  appropriately  here  as  being  "  a  corruption 
of  the  air  ".  The  topic  next  in  order,  following  the  first 
chapter  of  Genesis,  is  the  sea ;  and  after  that,  the  dry  land. 


2g]  ISIDORE'S  LIFE  AND  WRITINGS  29 

It  should  be  noted  that  this  view  of  the  physical  universe 
according  to  the  order  of  its  creation,  corresponds  roughly 
to  the  analysis  of  matter  into  the  four  elements,  fire,  air, 
water,  earth.  As  will  be  shown  later,  such  correspondences 
are  an  important  factor  in  the  intellectual  outlook  of  the 
time.  This  was  the  kind  of  mental  connection  with  which 
people  were  familiar.^ 

The  Liber  Niimerorum  contains  nothing  arithmetical  in 
the  modern  sense  of  the  word,  in  spite  of  Braulio's  state- 
ment that  in  it  Isidore  "  touched  on  the  science  of  arith- 
metic ".^  Its  fuller  title  is  "The  book  of  the  numbers  which 
occur  in  the  Holy  Scriptures  ",  and  the  body  of  the  book 
is  taken  up  with  the  mystic  significance  of  each  number 
from  one  to  twenty,  omitting  seventeen,  and  also  of  twenty- 
four,  thirty,  forty,  forty-six,  fifty,  and  sixty.  The  method 
of  treatment  indicates  an  advanced  mysticism  of  numbers. 
The  book  is  not  so  much  an  attempt  to  show  the  signifi- 
cance of  numbers  occurring  in  particular  connections,  as  it 
is  a  generalized  guide  to  their  mystical  interpretation,  lay- 
ing down  rules  to  govern  the  interpretation  of  each  num- 
ber, no  matter  where  it  occurs.  It  should  be  remarked  that 
this  was  really  "  the  science  of  number  "  of  the  dark  ages, 
and  that  Braulio's  use  of  the  term  "  arithmetic  "  as  apply- 
ing to  it  was  in  accordance  with  the  best  usage  of  the  time.* 

The  Allegoriae  is  of  a  character  similar  to  the  Liber 
Numerorum.  It  contains  in  brief  form  the  principal  alle- 
gories which  were  read  into  the  books  of  the  Old  and  the 
New  Testaments,  and  is  evidently  meant  to  constitute  a 
sort  of  reference  book  for  Scriptural  allegory.  It  possesses 
little  interest. 

One  of  the  most  important  of  the  writings  of  Isidore  is 
the  Sententiae,  in  three  books.     It  is  a  systematic  treatise 

1  See  p.  64.  2  See  p.  24.  I  See  p.  126. 


30  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [30 

on  Christian  doctrine  and  morals/  and  is  culled  chiefly 
from  the  M  or  alia  of  Gregory  the  Great.  As  might  be 
guessed  from  its  source,  it  is  not  a  work  of  an  enlightened 
character.  However,  while  it  is  largely  taken  up  with  the 
technicalities  of  Christian  thinking,  it  is  frequently  valu- 
able as  affording  fuller  and  more  specific  statements  on 
some  matters  of  interest  than  are  found  elsewhere  in  Isi- 
dore's works.  Isidore  and  Gregory  were  in  substantial 
agreement  in  their  attitude  toward  life,  but  there  are  indi- 
cations that  in  some  respects  Isidore  was  not  quite  as  thor- 
ough-going as  his  model.^ 

Among  Christian  scholars  from  the  beginning  there  had 
been  a  desire  to  bring  the  traditional  ideas  of  pagan  cos- 
mography into  subordination  to  the  Christian  scheme.  This 
impulse  was  strongly,  though  blindly,  felt  by  Isidore,  and 
it  led  to  his  several  attempts  at  a  comprehensive  account  of 
the  universe.  Perhaps  the  most  interesting  of  these  is  the 
De  Ordine  Creaturarum,  which  differs  from  the  others  by 
including  the  spiritual  as  well  as  the  material  universe. 
The  difference  did  not  make  for  rationality,  and  in  this 
short  work  Isidore  is  seen  at  his  scientific  worst.  As  in 
the  De  Natura  Rerum,  the  dominating  factors  in  the  de- 
scripti9n  of  the  physical  universe  are  the  first  chapter  of 
Genesis  and  the  theory  of  the  four  elements. 

That  on^  of  Isidore's  books  which  is  of  by  far  the  great- 

1  "  La  Suma  Teologica  del  Siglio  VII."  Menendez  y  Pelayo,  Estudios 
de  Crltica  Literaria,  vol.  i,  p.  149. 

'  If  Isidore  had  been  as  thorough-going  as  Gregory  in  depreciating  the 
secular  he  certainly  would  not  have  written  the  Etymologies.  His 
strongest  anti-secular  spirit  is  shown  in  the  chapter  (13)  de  libris  gen- 
tilium  of  the  Sententiae  where,  following  Gregory,  he  denounces  "  all 
secular  learning."  It  is  pretty  plain,  however,  that  he  is  here  follow- 
ing his  "model  rather  than  working  out  hi&  own  position,  and  in  the  last 
section  of  the  chapter  he  modifies  what  he  has  said  by  admitting  that 
grammar  may  "  avail  for  life  if  only  it  is  applied  to  better  uses." 


ISIDORE'S  LIFE  AND  WRITINGS  X 

est  importance  for  an  understanding  of  the  secular  thought 
of  the  day,  is  the  Etymologies.  This  is  a  sort  of  dictionary 
or  encyclopedia  of  all  knowledge/  As  Braulio  puts  it,  it 
contained  "  about  all  that  ought  to  be  known  ",  and  it  may 
be  taken  as  representing  the  widest  possible  scope  of  secular 
knowledge  that  an  orthodox  Spaniard  of  the  dark  ages 
could  allow  himself.  Indeed,  so  hospitable  an  attitude 
toward  profane  learning  as  Isidore  displayed  was  unpar- 
alleled in  his  own  period,  and  was  never  surpassed  through- 
out the  middle  ages. 

The  encyclopedic  character  of  the  Etymologies  may 
best  be  realized  by  a  general  view  of  its  contents.  The 
titles  of  the  twenty  books  into  which  it  is  divided  are  as 
follows : 

Etymologiarum  Libri  XX. 

1.  de  grammatica. 

2.  de  rhetorica  et  dialectica. 

3.  de  quattuor  disciplinis  mathematicis. 

4.  de  medicina. 

5.  de  legibus  et  temporibus. 

6.  de  libris  et  officiis  ecclesiasticis. 

7.  de  Deo,  angelis,  et  fidelium  ordinibus. 

8.  de  ecclesia  et  sectis  diversis. 

9.  de  linguis,  gentibus,  regnis,  militia,  civibus,  affini- 
tatibus. 

10.  vocum  certarum  alphabetum. 

11.  de  homine  et  portentis. 

12.  de  animalibus. 

13.  de  mundo  et  partibus. 

14.  de  terra  et  partibus. 

15.  de  aedificiis  et  agris. 

1  It  is  not  of  great  length— ^three  hundred  and  twenty-eight  quarto 
pages  in  the  reprint  of  Arevalo's  edition  in  Migne,  Patrologiae  Latina£, 
with  about  one-fifth  of  each  page  occupied  by  footnotes. 


32  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [32 

16.  de  lapidibus  et  metallis. 

17.  de  rebus  rusticis. 

18.  de  hello  et  ludis. 

19.  de  navibus,  aedificiis  et  vestibus. 

20.  de  penu  et  instrumentis  domesticis  et  rusticis. 

To  the  modern  reader,  familiar  with  the  names  of  only 
the  modern  sciences,  this  series  of  titles,  which  includes  an 
almost  complete  list  of  the  ancient  sciences,  may  not  be 
very  illuminating.  For  this  reason  it  is  perhaps  allowable 
to  translate  them,  where  it  is  possible  to  do  so,  into  their 
modern  equivalents.  Thus  we  have  grammar  (Bk.  i), 
rhetoric  and  logic  (Bk.  2),  arithmetic,  geometry,  music, 
astronomy  (Bk.  3),  medicine  (Bk.  4),  law  and  chronology 
(Bk.  5),  theology  (Bks.  6-8),  human  anatomy  and  physi- 
ology (Bk.  11),  zoology  (Bk.  12),  cosmography  and  physi- 
cal geography  (Bks.  13-14),  architecture  and  surveying 
(Bk.  15  and  part  of  Bk.  19),  mineralogy  (Bk.  16),  agri- 
culture (Bk.  17),  military  science  (Bk.  18).  This  partial 
enumeration  of  the  subjects  treated  in  Isidore's  Etymologies 
forms  an  imposing  array,  and  serves  to  explain  something 
of  the  importance  of  the  work  in  the  history  of  thought. 

The  secret  of  this  inclusiveness  lay,  however,  not  in  an 
expanded,  but  in  a  contracted  interest.  Although  Isidore 
is  not  surpassed  in  comprehensiveness  by  any  one  of  the 
line  of  Roman  encyclopedists  who  preceded  him,  in  the 
quality  of  his  thought  and  the  extent  of  his  information 
he  is  inferior  to  them  all.  Secular  knowledge  had  suffered 
so  much  from  attrition  and  decay  that  it  could  now  be  sum- 
marized in  its  entirety  by  one  man. 

In  spite  of  this  it  is  very  clear  that  if  Isidore  had  treated 
these  topics  with  any  degree  of  reference  to  the  actual  real- 
ities of  his  own  time,  he  would  have  left  us  a  work  of  in- 
estimable value.  But  he  did  not  do  so ;  he  drew,  not  upon 
life,  but  upon  books  for  his  ideas ;  there  was  no  first-hand 


33]  ISIDORE'S  LIFE  AND  WRITINGS  33 

observation.  Moreover,  the  books  which  he  consulted 
were,  as  a  rule,  centuries  old/  He  tells  us  practically  noth- 
ing concerning  his  own  period,  in  which  so  many  important 
changes  were  taking  place.  For  example,  there  are  re- 
peated and  detailed  references  to  the  founding  and  early 
history  of  Rome,  but  no  direct  allusion  to  the  political  and 
social  changes  brought  about  by  the  disintegration  of  the 
Roman  Empire;  trifles  attributed  to  a  period  thirteen 
centuries  earlier  seemed  to  interest  him  more  than  the 
mighty  developments  of  his  own  epoch.  Again,  although 
he  writes  upon  law,  he  does  not  appear  to  have  heard  of  the 
Justinian  code  issued  a  century  before;^  and  in  his  chro- 
nology he  fails  to  mention  the  proposal  for  a  new  era  in 
chronology  made  also  a  century  before  his  time  by  Dion- 
ysius  the  Less.^ 

Throughout  the  Etymologies  there  is  a  leading  principle 
which  guides  Isidore  in  his  handling  of  the  different  sub- 
jects, namely,  his  attitude  toward  words.  His  idea  was 
that  the  road  to  knowledge  was  by  way  of  words,  and 
further,  that  they  were  to  be  elucidated  by  reference  to 
their  origin  rather  than  to  the  things  they  stood  for.  This, 
in  itself,  gave  an  antiquarian  cast  to  his  work.  His  con- 
fidence in  words  really  amounted  to  a  belief,  strong  though 
perhaps  somewhat  inarticulate,  that  words  were  transcen- 
dental entities.  All  he  had  to  do,  he  believed,  was  to  clear 
away  the  misconceptions  about  their  meaning,  and  set  it 
forth  in  its  true  original  sense;  then,  of  their  own  accord, 
they  would  attach  themselves  to  the  general  scheme  of 
truth.  The  task  of  first  importance,  therefore,  in  treating 
any  subject,  was  to  seize  upon  the  leading  terms  and  trace 
them  back  to  the  meanings  which  they  had  in  the  beginning, 
before  they  had  been  contaminated  by  the  false  usage  of 
the  poets  and  other  heathen  writers;  thus  the  truth  would 

1  See  p.  46.  2  See  p.  165.  ^  See  p.  175. 


34  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [34 

be  found.  It  was  inevitable  that,  with  such  a  preconception, 
Isidore's  method  in  the  Etymologies  should  be  to  treat  each 
subject  by  the  method  of  defining  the  terms  belonging  to  it. 

It  is  plain,  then,  that  Isidore  used  the  dictionary  method 
in  the  Etymologies  not  as  a  matter  of  convenience,  but  on 
philosophic  grounds.  His  unthinking  confidence  in  words 
was,  however,  ill-rewarded.  It  merely  furnished  a  plan 
of  treatment  which  evaded  consecutive  thought,  and  made 
it  possible  for  his  work  to  be  a  mass  of  contradictions,  as 
it  really  is  in  very  many  points.  Indeed,  the  task  of  com- 
bining in  one  work  the  ill-digested  ideas  of  the  school  of 
Christian  thought  of  his  day  and  conflicting  ideas  borrowed 
from  the  pagans  would  not  have  been  possible  except  to  a 
writer  who  did  not  reason  on  his  material,  but  was  satis- 
fied, as  was  Isidore,  to  give  the  derivation  and  meaning  of 
his  terms  in  the  blind  trust  that  a  harmonious  whole  was 
thus  constituted. 

We  have  some  information  in  regard  to  the  production 
of  the  Etymologies.^  It  was  a  work  undertaken  at  the  re- 
quest of  Braulio,  bishop  of  Saragossa,  and  it  occupied  the 
last  years  of  Isidore's  life.  Parts  of  it,  however — pre-, 
sumably  those  that  could  be  used  as  text-books — were  in 
circulation  before  his  death.  Braulio  is. our  authority  for 
the  statement  that  the  work  as  a  whole  was  left  unfinished, 
and  that  he  himself  divided  it  into  twenty  books,  Isidore 
having  made  no  division  except  that  by  subjects.  As  the 
brief  preface,  addressed  to  Braulio,  informs  us,  the  work 
was  the  product  of  long-continued  reading,  and  contained 
verbatim  extracts  from- previous  writers,  as  well  as  Isi- 
dore's own  comments. 

'  The  circumstances  under  which  the  Etymologies  was  written  are  re- 
ferred to  in  Braulio's  Introduction  and  in  the  life  of  Isidore  by  Ilde- 
phonsus  (both  in  Migne,  P.  L.  82,  col.  65-68)  ;  in  the  correspondence 
between  Braulio  and  Isidore  (Migne,  P.  L.  83,  col.  910-914)  ;  and  in  the 
preface  of  the  Etymologies, 


CHAPTER  II 
Isidore's  Relation  to  Previous  Culture 

It  has  been  shown  that  by  a  combination  of  circum- 
stances, geographical,  political,  and  religious,  Spain  in  Isi- 
dore's day  was  more  fortunately  situated  than  the  re- 
mainder of  western  Europe.  Conditions  there  were  ripe 
for  an  expansion  of  intellectual  interest  beyond  the  narrow 
bounds  to  which  the  growth  of  religious  prejudice  and  the 
uncertainties  of  life  had  reduced  it.  In  this  expansion,  in 
which  it  was  Isidore's  part  to  lead,  it  was  inevitable  that  the 
chief  element  should  be  an  attempt  to  re-appropriate  what 
had  been  lost  in  the  preceding  centuries,  and  to  adapt  it  in 
some  measure  to  the  changed  conditions  of  life  and  thought 
which  had  arisen. 

Isidore's  relation  to  previous  culture  must,  therefore,  be 
examined.  It  appears  certain,  although  perhaps  it  cannot 
be  proved,  that  he  was  completely  cut  off  from  that  world 
of  thought,  both  Christian  and  pagan,  which  was  expressed 
in  the  Greek  language.  The  tradition  of  wide  linguistic 
learning  which  was  attached  to  him  after  his  death  and  has 
not  been  questioned  until  recent  times,  has  really  nothing 
to  rest  upon.^    Isidore  himself  does  not  claim  a  knowledge 

^  The  oft-repeated  expression,  Latinis,  Graecis  et  Hehraicis  litteris  ht- 
structus,  found  in  the  Vita  Sancti  Isidori,  deserves  no  atterution.  There 
is  no  historical  basis  for  the  assertion  that  Isidore  knew  Greek  or 
Hebrew.  In  view  of  the  time,  it  would  be  more  reasonable  to  demand 
proof  that  he  did  know  them  rather  than  that  he  did  not.  As.  to  his 
knowledge  of  Greek,  see  Dressel,  De  Isidori  Originum  Fontibus  in 
35]  35 


36  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [36 

of  Greek,  and  he  seems  to  have  relied  on  translations  for 
whatever  his  works  contain  that  is  of  Greek  origin/  He 
nowhere  quotes  a  Greek  sentence,  and  since  the  Etymologies 
and  others  of  his  works  are  practically  made  up  of  quota- 
tions, it  seems  strange  that  he  did  not  do  so  if  he  had  re- 
sorted at  all  to  Greek  authors.  The  detached  Greek  words, 
and  the  Greek  phrases  that  occur  rarely  in  his  works,  are 
practically  all  given  as  derivations  of  Latin  words;  and 
when  it  is  remembered  that  such  detached  words  and 
phrases  had  been  extremely  common  in  Latin  literature  for 
centuries,  it  becomes  plain  that  their  use  by  Isidore  does 
not  necessarily  indicate  that  he  had  a  reading  knowledge 
of  Greek.  His  case  is  similar  to  that  of  many  intelligent 
persons  of  the  present  day  who  are  able  to  trace  words  to 
Latin  and  Greek  roots  without  being  able  to  read  these  lan- 
guages.' 

Rivista  di  Filologia,  vol.  iii  (1874-75),  P-  216.  The  legend  of  Isidore's 
wide  linguistic  learning  persists,  however,  even  in  the  nth  edition  of 
the  Encyclopedia  Britannica.     See  Art.  "  Encyclopedia." 

1  Cf.  Etym.,  2,  2,  I ;  2,  25,  i  and  9;  3,  2.     See  pp.  in,  120,  125. 

^  The  point  has  been  made  that  Isidore  shows  his  ignorance  of  the 
Greek  language  by  the  misitakes  he  made  in  the  use  of  Greek  words  in 
his  derivations.  A  few  examples  selected  almost  at  random  may  be 
useful  in  this  connection,  although  it  must  be  remembered  that  the 
possibility  of  corruption  in  the  text  is  always  great. 

(a)  3,  22,  6.     "  Chordas  autem  dictas  a  corde." 

(b)  3,  22,  8.     "  Lyra  dicta  oltzo  rov  IvpUv  a  varietate  vocum." 

(c)  12,  I,  35.  "  Camur  enim  Graecum  verbum  curvum  significat  " 
Why  Isidore  in  (a)  does  not  give  the  natural  derivation  from  xop^ 
is  not  clear  unless  his  knowledge  of  Greek  was  very  slight.  Ivpeiv, 
in  (b),  is  a  form  that  is  not  found  in  Greek.  In  (c)  camur  is  not  a 
Greek  word  written  in  Roman  letters,  as  Isidore  apparently  thought. 
See  Harper's  Latin  Dictionary.  -  Compare  also  the  form  in  which  Aris- 
totle's TTtpi  eppLTjvda^  is  cited:  de  perihermeniis,  praefatio  perihermeni- 
arum,  in  libro  perihermeniarum  (2,  27).  Isidore's  Greek  has  given  his 
editors  much  trouble.  See  Migne,  Patr.  Lat.  81,  328,  for  comment  upon 
it  by  Vulcanius,  who  edited  the  Etymologies  in  1577. 


37]  RELATION  TO  PREVIOUS  CULTURE  ^7 

What  aspects,  then,  of  the  Latin  literary  tradition,  which 
alone  has  to  be  taken  into  account,  are  of  importance  as 
giving  an  understanding  of  Isidore  and  his  works? 

To  him,  no  doubt,  the  literary  past  seemed  to  be  filled 
chiefly  with  the  succession  of  Christian  writers  from  Ter- 
tullian  to  Gregory  the  Great.  These,  starting  out  with  a  re- 
ligion to  which  a  primitive  cosmology  was  tenaciously  at- 
tached, were  really  engaged  in  amalgamating  with  it  the 
less  hostile  items  of  the  Graeco-Roman  intellectual  inheri- 
tance. Men  like  Augustine  were  occupied  in  de-secularizing 
the  knowledge  of  their  times ;  that  is,  in  reshaping  it  so  that 
it  should  fill  a  subordinate  place  in  the  religious  scheme  and 
so  support  that  scheme,  or  at  least  not  be  in  opposition  to 
it.  Orosius'  feat  of  reshaping  history  so  that  it  was  sub- 
servient to  religion,  is  a  good  example  of  what  was  going 
on  in  every  field.  Such  secular  knowledge  as  was  allowed 
to  exist  was  brought  into  more  or  less  close  relation  to  the 
religious  ideas  that  dominated  thinkers,  and  whatever  could 
not  be  thus  reshaped  tended  to  be  rejected  and  forgotten. 
The  nearest  approach  to  an  exception  to  this  is  found  in  the 
subjects  that  had  formed  the  educational  curriculum  of  the 
Greeks  and  Romans.  These  offered  robust  opposition  to 
de-secularization;  and  though  they  were  attenuated  to  al- 
most nothing,  they  succeeded  in  maintaining  their  separate 
existence.  This  process  of  de-secularization  was  about 
complete  by  the  time  of  Cassiodorous ;  in  him  we  have  an 
intellectual  outlook  that  recognizes,  outside  of  the  religious 
scheme,  only  the  seven  liberal  arts.^ 

On  the  other  hand,  there  was  the  pagan  literary  tradition, 
which  owed  all  the  value  that  it  possessed  to  contact  with 
Greek  culture.  Except  in  the  field  of  legal  social  relations, 
the  Romans  made  no  original  contribution  to  civilization. 

1  See  p.  83. 


38  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [38 

They  had  no  proper  curiosity  concerning  the  universe,  and 
so  could  do  no  thinking  of  vital  importance  concerning  it. 
Anything  approaching  scientific  tho^ught  in  the  modern 
sense  was  absolutely  unknown  to  them.  Therefore,  while 
most  of  their  writers  were  prosaic  and  secular  in  their 
habit  of  mind  and  free  from  mystical  leanings,  the  intel- 
lectual possession  of  the  Romans  was  not  of  the  close-knit 
rational  character  which  would  have  enabled  them  to  re- 
sist successfully  the  avalanche  of  Oriental  superstition 
which  descended  on  the  Western  world  in  the  centuries 
after  the  conquest  of  the  East.^  Secular  thought  in  the 
Roman  civilization  was  thus  doomed  to  undergo  a  process 
of  decay. 

The  branch  of  pagan  Latin  literature  which  throws  most 
light  on  the  character  of  Isidore's  Etymologies  is  the  suc- 
cession of  encyclopedias  which  constituted  so  conspicuous 
a  feature  of  literary  history  under  the  Empire.  The  chief 
writers  in  this  field,  in  order  of  time,  were  Varro,  Verrius 
Flaccus,  the  elder  Pliny,  Suetonius,  Pompeius  Festus,  and 
Nonius  Marcellus.  While  the  motives  and  causes  that  im- 
pelled them  to  their  task  were  doubtless  many  and  intricate, 
consideration  of  a  few  paramount  influences  by  which  they 
were  affected  will  explain  much  of  the  character  of  their 
work,  and  will  indicate  the  origin  of  the  main  peculiarities 
of  Isidore's  encyclopaedia. 

In  the  first  place,  it  is  in  these  encyclopaedias,  which  pro- 
fess to  cover  the  fields  of  literary  scholarship  and  natural 
science,  that  the  intellectual  decline  most  clearly  reveals 
itself.  They  may  be  regarded  on  the  one  hand  as  repre- 
senting the  successive  stages  in  the  decay  of  the  intellectual 
inheritance,  and  in  them  we  may  trace  the  way  in  which 

*  For  a  brief  account  of  Orienital  influences  in  Roman  religion,  see 
Dill,  Roman  Society  in  the  Last  Century  of  the  Western  Empire  (Lon- 
don, 1898),  ch.  4. 


39]  RELATION  TO  PREVIOUS  CULTURE  39 

the  array  of  ordered  knowledge  was  steadily  losing  in  both 
content  and  quality.  Viewed,  on  the  other  hand,  as  a 
totality,  and  considered  with  reference  to  the  impulses  that 
led  to  their  production,  they  are  again  symptomatic  of  de- 
generation; they  stand  as  the  most  thorough-going  ex- 
ample of  the  epitomizing  tendency  which  permeated  Roman 
thought  and  which  evidenced  its  decline.  Written  as  they 
were  by  the  intellectual  leaders  of  their  day,  they  represent 
a  curious  reversal  of  the  modern  situation,  since  where  the 
leaders  in  the  modern  expansion  of  thought  have  devoted 
themselves  to  specialized  inquiry,  those  of  the  Roman  em-  . 
pire  gave  their  attention  to  compiling  and  arranging  the 
whole  body  of  knowledge  rather  than  to  extending  it  at 
any  point.  The  conditions  of  their  time  drove  therri  to 
generalize  rather  than  to  specialize. 

These  encyclopedias  are  pervaded  by  a  tone  of  literary 
scholarship.  It  was  a  peculiarity  of  Latin  literature  that 
philology  was  almost  as  old  as  poetry.  The  Roman  poetry 
was  a  mere  reflection  of  the  Greek,  the  poets  invariably 
knowing  Greek  and  either  translating  from  it  or  following 
Greek  models.  Poetry  so  produced  was  inevitably  arti- 
ficial and  in  need  of  elucidation.  These  conditions  favored 
the  rapid  growth  of  criticism;  grammar,  word  derivation, 
philology,  antiquarian  history  were  favorite  studies  from 
early  times,  engaging  the  attention  even  of  leading  Romans. 
There  was  even  a  sort  of  literary  science;  for  example, 
Varro's  geography,  which  was  meant  to  include  the  geo- 
graphical allusions  of  the  poets.  A  mass  of  scholarly  lore 
was  thus  accumulated  and  this  soon  became  unwieldly.  It 
was  the  function  of  Varro  and  Verrius  Flaccus  especially 
to  reduce  this  mass  to  order  and  to  bring  it  into  such  shape 
that  it  could  be  referred  to  readily.  To  effect  the  latter 
object  Verrius  Flaccus  introduced  the  method  of  alpha- 
betical arrangement,  using  this  for  the  first  time  in  his 


40  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [40 

great  work  De  Verhorum  Signiiicatu.  These  two  writers 
gave,  then,  in  their  encyclopedic  works  a  survey  of  the  ap- 
paratus for  literary  criticism,  including  a  sort  of  literary 
science,  and  the  whole  succession  of  encyclopedic  writers 
was  greatly  influenced  by  the  example  which  they  set. 

In  the  works  of  Pliny  and  Suetonius,  who  followed 
Varro  and  Verrius  Flaccus,  natural  science  is  brought,  into 
the  foreground.  The  change,  however,  was  but  slight. 
The  natural  science  of  the  Romans  was  anything  but  scien- 
tific; neither  experiment,  systematic  observation,  nor  re- 
search had  ever  been  practiced  among  them.  Their  science 
was  an  affair  of  books  and  was  of  an  authoritative  char- 
acter. Even  the  poets  were  looked  upon  as  possessing  scien- 
tific knowledge  and  were  seriously  quoted  to  maintain  sci- 
entific theses.  There  was  no  real  distinction  between  the 
natural  and  philological  sciences  of  the  time,  and  therefore 
the  encyclopedia  of  literary  criticism  was  closely  allied 
with  that  of  natural  science. 

As  illustrating  the  character  of  the  encyclopedias  it  is 
worth  while  to  notice  more  fully  the  method  by  which  they 
were  produced.  As  has  been  suggested,  Roman  scholars 
and  scientists  under  the  Empire  were  little  more  than  note- 
takers.  Pliny  the  Elder  is  the  typical  example  of  this  ten- 
dency; a  student  of  extraordinary  diligence,  his  study  con- 
sisted in  reading,  making  extracts,  and  compiling  them. 
Such  was  the  origin  of  his  Natural  History,  He  left  to 
his  nephew,  in  addition,  the  legacy  of  "  one  hundred  and 
sixty  common-place  books,  written  on  both  sides  of  the 
scroll  and  in  very  small  handwriting  ".^  The  full  effect  of 
the  tendency  thus  illustrated  cannot  be  perceived,  however, 
if  we  think  merely  of  the  process  as  it  was  carried  on  by 
Pliny,  for  he  consulted  chiefly  original  works;  when,  later, 

*  Younger  Pliny,  Epistles,  3,  5. 


4i]  RELATION  TO  PREVIOUS  CULTURE  41 

extracts  began  to  be  made  from  works  that  were  themselves 
compiled  from  extracts,  when  epitomes  began  to  be  epi- 
tomized, a  state  of  confusion  and  feebleness  of  thought 
inevitably  ensued.  This  is  the  condition  which  is  exempli- 
fied in  the  two  latest  of  the  Roman  encyclopedists,  Pom- 
peius  Festus  and  Nonius  Marcellus,  and  the  tradition  is 
continued  in  Isidore. 

The  body  of  knowledge  gathered  together  under  all  these 
influences  possessed  little  of  a  positive  nature.  It  was  in- 
formed by  no  general  ideas  of  a  striking  character  and  it 
entirely  lacked  the  element  of  reasoned  proof.  Since  its 
science  was  a  science  of  authority,  it  was  easy  for  the 
Christian  writers  to  modify  it  by  substituting  the  authority 
of  the  Scriptures  for  that  of  pagan  writers.  In  fact,  the 
encyclopedias  furnished  to  the  church  fathers  secular 
knowledge  in  a  particularly  convenient  and  unobjectionable 
form.  Augustine,  especially,  made  great  use  of  Varro.  It 
can  be  seen  that  this  literary  form  was  better  adapted  than 
any  other  to  pass  with  unbroken  continuity  from  ancient 
into  medieval  literature. 

It  is  then  to  the  succession  of  Roman  encyclopedists  that 
we  must  go  to  explain  the  method,  spirit,  and  content  of 
Isidore's  Etymologies.  A  comparison  of  the  organization 
of  the  material  and  of  the  sub-titles  of  Isidore's  work  with 
those  of  the  Roman  writers,^  so  far  as  they  are  known, 

^  An  outline  of  the  ccxntents  of  leading  encyclopaedic  works,  so  far 
as  known,  is  here  given  for  purposes  of  comparison  with  the  ccwitents 
of  the  Etymologies. 

Marcus  Terentius  Varro,  116-28  B.  C. 

Antiquitatum  Rerum  Humanarum  et  Divinarum  Lihri  XLI. 
Rerum  Humanarum  Libri  XXV. 
Bk.  I.     Introduction. 
2-7.    de  hominibus. 

8-13.    de  locis   (8,  Rome;  11,  Italy;   12,  remaining  Europe; 
13,  Asia  and  Africa). 


42  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [42 

shows  the  extent  of  his  indebtedness.  The  literary  and 
philological  flavor,  the  stress  on  word  history  and  deriva- 
tion, the  pseudo-science  based  on  authority,  the  conspicuous 

14-18.    de  temporibus  (14,  introduction;  15,  de  sacculis;  16,  de 
lustris;  17,  d€  annis ;  18,  de  mensibus;  19,  de  diebus). 
20-25.    de  rebus. 


Rerum  Divinarum  Libri  XVI. 

Bk.  26. 

Introduction. 

27-29. 

de  hominibus. 

30-32. 

de  locis. 

33-35. 

de  temporibus. 

36-38. 

de  rebus. 

38-41. 

de  diis. 

This  encyclopedia  stands  for  the  interests  of  the  scholarly  antiquarian 
rather  than  for  those  of  the  man  interested  in  natural  science.  The 
work  itself  is  losit,  but  the  nature  of  its  contents  is  fairly  well  known, 
thanks  to  St.  Augustine.  For  further  information  regarding  Varro's 
encyclopedic  works,  see  Boissier,  Etude  sur  la  vie  et  les  ouvrages  de 
M.  Varron,  Paris,  1861 ;  and  Geschichte  der  Romischen  Litteratur, 
Martin  Schanz,  Miinchen,  1909,  Erster  Teil,  Zweite  Halite,  187,  188. 

Verrius  Flaccus  (flourished  under  Augustus). 
De  Verb  or  um  SigniHcatu. 

The  work  itself  has  been  lost,  as  also  the  greater  part  of  the  abbre- 
viation of  it  to  twenty  books  made  by  Pompeius  Festus  before  200 
A.  D.  Festus's  abridgement  was  further  abridged  by  Paulus  Diaconus 
in  Charlemagne's  time.  It  is  regarded  as  certain  that  material  in  Isi- 
dore's Etymologies  came  directly  or  indirectly  from  the  De  Verborum 
SigniHcatu.    Nettleship,  Lectures  and  Essays,  Oxford,  1885. 

Pliny  the  Elder  (23-79  A.  D.). 

Naturalis  Historiae  Libri  XXXVII. 
Bk.  I.    Contents  and  lists  of  sources. 
2.    Description  of  the  universe. 
3-6.    Geography. 
•    7.    Man. 

8.  Animals. 

9.  Fishes. 

10.  Birds. 

11.  Insects. 

12-27.    Trees,  shrubs,  plants,  including  medicinal  botany. 
27-32.    Medicinal  zoology. 


43]  RELATION  TO  PREVIOUS  CULTURE  43 

tendency  to  confusion  and  feebleness  of  thought,  the  habit 
of  heedless  copying  that  we  find  in  an  aggravated  form  in 
the  Etymologies,  all  these  are  inherited  characteristics  that 
betray  the  origin  of  the  work. 

But  though  the  example  which  was  furnished  by  the 
Roman  encyclopedists  was  by   far  the  strongest  literary 

32-37.     Metals,  colors,  stones,  and  gems,  especially  from  the 
artisVs  point  of  view. 

Dressel,  De  Isidori  Originum  Fontibus,  pp.  243-247,  in  Rivista  di  Hlo- 
logia,  1874-75,  gives  an  incomplete  list  of  Isidore's  borrowings  from 
Pliny.  He  poiruts  out  Isidore's  carelessness  in  borrowing  in  one  case 
where  he  shows  that  what  Pliny  tells  us  of  the  echineis,  Isidore  hastily 
assigns  to  the  mullus.  Cf.  Isidore  12,  6,  25,  with  Pliny,  32;  8,  9,  70, 
138-39. 

Suetonius  Tranquillus  (last  of  first  century  and  first  half  of  second). 
Prata. 

This  work  is  lost.  It  was  an  encyclopedia  in  at  least  ten  books,  of 
which  the  titles  of  some  books  and  fragments  have  been  recovered,  a 
large  portion  of  them  from  the  Etymologies  and  De  Natura  Rerutrh 
Among  the  subjects  were  leges,  mores,  tempora,  mundus.,  animantium 
naturae.  Isidore  quotes  Suetonius  twice.  See  A.  Reifferscheid,  C.  Sue- 
toni  Tranquilli  Reliquiae,  Leipzig,  i860,  pp.  155  et  seq.,  and  Schanz, 
Geschichte  der  Romischen  Litteratur,  Dritter  Teil;  pp.  47-66. 

Nonius  Marcellus  (early  fourth  century). 
Compendiosa  Doctrina  ad  Filium. 

Bks.  1-12.     Grammatical  in  character,  including  one  book,  (5) 
De  Differentia  Similium  SigniHcationum. 

13.  de  genere  navigiorum. 

14.  de  genere  vestimentorum. 

15.  de  genere  vasorum  vel  poculorum. 

16.  de  genere  calciamentorum. 

17.  de  coloribus  vestimentorum. 

18.  de  genere  ciborum  vel  potorum. 

19.  de  genere  armorum. 

20.  de  propinquitatum  vocabulis. 

This  work  is,  in  part,  in  dictionary  form  (Bks.  1-6).  There  is  much 
resemblance  between  passages  in  Nonius  Marcellus  and  in  the  Ety- 
mologies, which  Nettleship  believes  to  be  due  to  the  use  of  a  common 
source.  Nettleship,  "  Nonius  Marcellus,"  in  Lectures  and  Essays. 
Lindsay,  Nonius  Marcellus,  Oxford,  1901. 


44  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [44 

factor  which  influenced  Isidore  in  the  composition  of  the 
Etymologies,  it  was  not  the  only  one  of  importance.  A 
minor  type  of  encyclopedia,  that  of  education,  occurs  in 
Latin  literature.  The  first  example  of  it  is  furnished  by 
Varro  in  his  Disciplinarum  Lihri  IX;  ^  this  work  had,  how- 
ever, disappeared  before  Isidore's  time.  Varro  found  no 
successor  until  the  fourth  century,  when  Martianus  Capella 
wrote  his  account  of  the  seven  libera^  arts,^  giving  thus  a 
comprehensive  treatment  of  the  subject-matter  of  educa- 
tion. He  was  followed  in  the  sixth  century  by  Cassiodorus. 
whose  De  Artibus  et  Disciplinis  Liber  alium  Litter  arum 
Isidore  certainly  had  before  him  when  he  wrote  the  account 
of  the  seven  liberal  arts  which  occupies  the  first  three  books 
of  the  Etymologies.  Isidore's  work  therefore  appears  to 
be  a  fusion  of  the  minor  encyclopedia  of  education  and  the 
major  encyclopedia  of  all  knowledge. 

We  are  now  in  a  position  to  form  a  clearer  judgment  of 
the  personal  element  which  Isidore  contributed  to  the  com- 
position of  the  Etymologies.  It  is  worth  while  in  the  first 
place  to  point  out  that  the  essentials  of  the  work  are  de- 
rived from  the  pagan,  not  the  Christian,  side  of  the  Latin 
tradition.  This  in  itself  showed  a  commendable  initiative, 
considering  that  it  was  the  age  of  Gregory  the  Great.  It 
was  Isidore's  function  to  adjust  the  secular  learning  thus 
obtained  to  a  new  and  lower  level  of  thought  and  to  the 
Christian  philosophy  of  the  time.  The  way  in  which  this 
was  accomplished  constitutes  the  only  original  element  in 
the  treatment  of  the  subject-matter.  The  adjustment  was 
secured  partly  by  an  amalgamation  of  the  pseudo-science 

*  Disciplinarum  Lihri  IX.  Bk.  i.  Grammar.  Bk.  2.  Diakctic.  Bk.  3. 
Rhetoric.  Bk.  4.  Geometry.  Bk.  5.  Arithmetic.  Bk.  6.  Astrology. 
Bk.  7.  Music.  Bk.  8.  Medicine.  Bk.  g.  Architecture.  (Conjectural  li&t 
of  disciplines  given  by  Ritschl,  Opusc.  3,  p.  312.) 

•  Martianus  Capella,  De  Nuptiis  Philologiae  et  Mercurii. 


45]  RELATION  TO  PREVIOUS  CULTURE  45 

of  the  church  fathers  with  that  found  in  the  encyclopedic 
writings,  and  by  the  inclusion  of  the  three  books  which 
deal  with  religious  matters,  but  chiefly  by  the  new  spirit  in 
which  secular  knowledge  was  conceived.  The  works  of 
Pliny  and  Suetonius  were  surveys  of  what  was  known; 
that  of  Isidore  was  a  survey  of  "  what  ought  to  be  known  ". 
For  his  age  secular  knowledge  was  valuable,  not  for  itself, 
but  for  edification.  In  theory,  at  least,  it  was  Isidore's 
notion  that  such  knowledge  might  "  avail  for  life  if  applied 
to  the  better  uses  ". 

The  question  of  the  actual  sources  used  by  Isidore  in 
the  Etymologies  and  in  his  other  works  of  a  secular  nature 
is  a  difficult  one.  The  literary  tradition  of  the  period  pre- 
ceding his,  which  was  mainly  a  time  of  compiling  and  epi- 
tomizing, is  so  complicated  and  confused  that  the  student 
cannot  be  certain,  when  he  finds  the  exact  wording  of  a 
writer  in  the  work  of  another  who  preceded  him,  that  the 
former  has  borrowed  from  the  latter.  Both  may  have 
borrowed  from  another  source  or  even  from  two  different 
sources  identical  as  respects  the  passage  in  question.^  In 
the  task  of  ascertaining  Isidore's  sources  the  difficulties 
already  enumerated  are  increased  by  the  loss  of  important 
works  upon  which  it  is  pretty  certain  that  he  drew,^  and 
also  by  his  habit  of  quoting  the  sources  quoted  by  his  au- 
thorities as  if  they  were  his  own.* 

However,  although  there  has  been  no  thorough-going 
investigation  of  this  question,  much  has  been  accomplished 
by  students  interested  in  sections  of  the  Etymologies,  such, 
for  example,  as  those  on  music  and  law.  Classical  scholars 
also  have  investigated  his  sources  in  a  more  general  way, 

1  See  p.  91.  ^  E.  g.  Suetonius,  Pratq. 

3  See  pp.  106,  114. 


46  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [46 

but  their  efforts  have  been  not  so  much  directed  to  the  elu- 
cidation of  Isidore  himself  as  inspired  by  the  hope  of  re- 
covering some  fragments  of  the  classical  authors.  The 
varying  conclusions  reached  show  that  no  great  certainty 
has  been  attained,  but  it  is  possible  to  give  a  tentative  list 
of  sources  which  will  indicate  roughly  the  nature  of  the 
influences  which  contributed  to  form  Isidore's  ideas/     It 

*  Dressel,  De  Isidori  Originum  Fontibus,  in  Rivista  di  Hlologia,  1874- 
75  discusses  Isidore's  method  of  using  his  sources,  and  gives  a  list  of 
writers  and  works  to  which  he  traces  passages  in  Isidore,  giving  usually 
a  list  of  the  latter.  The  writers  include  Sallust,  Justinus,  Hegesippus, 
Orosius,  Pliny,  Solinus,  the  abridger  of  Vitruvius,  Lucretius,  Hyginus, 
Cassiodorus,  Servius,  the  scholia  on  Lucan. 

Nettleship,  Lectures  and  Essays,  Oxford,  1885,  devotes  attention 
chiefly  to  the  encyclopedic  tradition,  treating  of  Verrius  Flaccus,  the 
Glosses  of  Placidus,  the  Nodes  Atticae  of  Gellius,  Nonius  Marcellus, 
and  Servius.  He  treats  of  Isidore  only  by  the  way,  and  lays  stress  on 
his  debt  to  Suetonius,  Praia,  and  Verrius  Flaccus,  De  Verhorum  Sig- 
niHcatu.  See  pp.  330-336,  and  for  opinion  of  Latin  encyclopedic  tra- 
dition, pp.  283-285. 

Reifferscheid,  Suetonii  Reliquiae,  recovers  several  passages  of  Sue- 
tonius from  Isidore. 

C.  Schmidt,  Quaestiones  de  musicis  scriptoribus  Romanis  inprimis  de 
Cassiodoro  et  Isidoro,  traces  Isidore's  De  Musica  to  an  unknown  Chris- 
tian writer. 

G.  Becker,  editor  of  De  Natura  Rerum,  Berlin,  1857,  discusses  the 
sources  of  that  work  especially,  tracing  it  to  Suetonius,  Solinus,  and 
Hyginus  on  the  one  hand,  and  Ambrose,  Clement,  Augustine,  on  the 
other. 

H.  Hertzberg,  Die  Chronikon  des  Isidors,  Forsch.  zu  deutschen 
Geschichte,  15,  280  et  seq.,  discusses  the  sources  of  Isidore's  Chronica, 
which  he  traces  to  Jerome's  translation  of  Eusebius  with  later  continua- 
tions. The  same  writer  also  treats  of  the  sources  of  The  History  of 
the  Goths,  (Gott.  1874). 

H.  Usener,  Anecdoton  Holderi  (Bonn,  1877),  p.  65,  asserts  that  Isi- 
dore did  not  use  Cassiodorus's  encyclopedia  of  the  liberal  arts. 

M.  Conrat,  Geschichte  des  Quellen  und  Literatur  des  RonUschen 
Rechts  in  Friiheren  Mittelalter  (Leipzig,  1891)  treats  of  the  sources  of 
Isidore's  Leges,  pp.  151  et  seq.;  as  also  Voigt,  Jus  Naturale,  i,  576 
et  seq.,  and  Dirksen,  Hinterlassen  Schriften,  i,  185  et  seq. 

Amo  Schenk,  De  Isidori  Hispalensis  de  natura  rerum  libelli  fontibus. 


47]  RELATION  TO  PREVIOUS  CULTURE  47 

seems  probable  that  his  working  library  contained  works 
of  the  following  authors:  Lactantius,  TertuUian,  Jerome, 
Ambrose,  Augustine,  Orosius,  Cassiodorus,  Suetonius, 
Pliny,  Solinus,  Hyginus,  Sallust,  Hegesippus,  the  abridger 
of  Vitruvius,  Servius,  the  scholia  on  Lucan,  and  Justinus. 

Jena,  1909,  finds  that  Isidore  wrote  the  De  Natura  Rerum  and  the 
Etymologiae  from  his  collection  of  excerpts  which  is  drawn  from  Am- 
brose, Clement,  Augustine,  Jerome,  the  scholiast  on  Germanicus,  Hy- 
ginus, Servius,  the  scholia  on  Lucan,  Solinus,  Suetonius,  and  a  number 
of  the  Roman  poets.  This  dissertation  is  largely  meant  to  show  that 
Reiflferscheid  in  his  work,  Suetonii  Reliquiae,  had  gone  too  far  in 
attributing  passages  found  in  Isidore  to  Suetonius. 

M.  Klussman,  Excerpta  TertulUanea  in  Isidori  Hispalensis  Etymolo- 
giis,  Hamburg,  1892,  gives  a  list  of  nearly  seventy  passages  borrowed 
by  Isidore  from  TertuUian,  at  the  same  time  pointing  out  that  credit  for 
the  par  sages  is  nowhere  assigned  to  the  latter. 


CHAPTER  III 
Isidore's  World  View 

Is  it  possible  to  ascertain  from  the  writings  of  Isidore 
what  was  the  general  view  of  the  universe  and  the  attitude 
toward  life  held  in  the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries? 

On  first  thought  it  seems  doubtful.  As  has  been  indi- 
cated, his  works,  and  especially  the  Etymologies,  form  a 
mosaic  of  borrowings,  whose  ultimate  origin  is  to  be  traced 
to  unnumbered  writings  in  both  Greek  and  Latin,  and  in 
both  Christian  and  pagan  literatures.  We  find  side  by  side 
in  Isidore  the  ideas  of  Aristotle,  Nicomachus,  Porphyry, 
Varro,  Cicero,  Suetonius,  Moses,  St.  Paul,  Origen,  an4 
Augustine,  to  mention  only  a  few;  and  these  ideas,  al- 
though as  a  rule  they  have  undergone  degeneration,  ^re 
sometimes  in  the  original  words  or  a  close  rendering  of 
them.  If  viewed  closely  they  are  a  mass  of  confusion  and 
incoherence.  This  is  natural ;  such  eclectism  as  had  existed 
for  centuries  in  the  Roman,  pagan  and  Christian,  systems 
of  thought  is  not  compatible  with  consistency.  Incoherence 
in  the  intellectual  possession  was  inevitable;  equally  in- 
evitable was  an  increasing  indifference  to  incoherence  and 
even  inability  to  perceive  it.  The  words  of  a  writer  of 
such  a  period  must  therefore  not  be  pressed  too  hard.  Too 
close  an  investigation  would  land  the  inquirer  in  hopeless 
confusion. 

Furthermore,  even  in  writers  far  more  consecutive  in 
their  thinking  than  Isidore,  there  are  often  fundamental 
preconceptions  which  are  naively  taken  for  granted,  and 
48  [48 


49]  ISIDORE'S  WORLD  VIEW  ^g 

which,  although  unstated,  serve  as  points  around  which  to 
mass  ideas.  If  the  reader  does  not  happen  to  approach 
the  subject  with  the  same  preconceptions,  a  misapprehen- 
sion is  likely  to  result.  It  is  the  business  of  the  critic  to 
•grasp  these  preconceptions  and  place  the  reader  on  the 
same  plane  of  understanding,  as  it  were,  so  that  he  can 
follow  the  meaning  as  it  lay  in  the  mind  of  the  writer. 
Sometimes  this  undertaking  is  possible,  but  in  the  case  of 
a  writer  like  Isidore,  whose  ideas  are  often  hazy  and  whose 
work  is  a  conglomerate  of  ten  centuries,  it  may  easily  be 
impossible.^ 

However,  it  must  be  remembered  that  such  an  absence 
of  an  acute  self -consciousness  as  is  indicated  in  the  con- 
dition just  described,  is  exactly  the  thing  that  enables  men 
to  perform  feats  of  an  astonishing  character  in  construct- 
ing a  world-philosophy,  if  perchance  they  have  a  taste  in 
that  direction.  Their  minds,  not  being  irritated  or  roused 
by  any  perception  of  inconsistency,  rest  happy  in  the  con- 
viction that  all  is  explained,  and  remain  oblivious  of  that 
sense  of  mystery  which  forms  the  background  of  modern 
scientific  thought.  As  tested  from  this  point  of  view  the 
medieval  period  afforded  the  conditions  for  a  complacent 
and  authoritative  world-philosophy,  such  as  in  fact  it  did 
possess. 

*  For  example,  Isidore  evidently  had  a  theory  as  to  the  origin  and 
value  of  language,  but  he  does  not  state  it  anywhere,  although  innu- 
merable times  he  approaches  the  subject  in  an  oblique  sort  of  way. 
See  p.  99.  Again,  he  never  tells  us  whether  he  believed  the  earth  to 
be  flat  or  spherical ;  he  uses  at  one  time  language  that  belongs  to  the 
spherical  earth,  and  at  another,  language  that  can  have  sense  only  if  he 
believed  the  earth  to  be  flat.  Here  we  have  not  only  no  definite  state- 
ment of  the  conceptiofU — although  it  must  have  existed  in  his  mind, 
considering  the  frequency  of  his  writings  on  the  physical  universe — ^but 
we  have  in  addition  the  puzzle  of  deciding  which  set  of  expressions 
used  in  this  connection  was  meaningless  to  him.  See  pp.  50-54  and  Ap- 
pendix. 


50  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [50 

The  difficulties  in  ascertaining  the  world  view  held  by 
Isidore  are,  then,  considerable;  but,  since  he  was  the  lead- 
ing representative  of  the  intellect  of  the  dark  ages,  and  the 
only  important  writer  on  secular  subjects  in  two  centuries 
of  western  European  history,  the  attempt  to  ascertain  it 
seems  worth  while.  In  making  this  attempt,  however,  it 
is  necessary  to  keep  these  difficulties  of  interpretation  in 
mind ;  the  danger  is  that  we  shall  lay  too  much  stress  on  the 
minor  inconsistencies  which  he  probably  was  not  aware  of, 
and  so  fail  to  see  that  large  general  consistency  which,  be- 
cause of  his  lack  of  critical  sensitiveness,  he  was  able  to 
believe  that  he  found. 

Isidore's  physical  universe  ^  in  its  form  is  geocentric, 
and  is  bounded  by  a  revolving  sphere  which  he  believed  to 
be  made  of  fire,  and  in  which  the  stars  are  fixed.  The  ques- 
tion of  the  number  of  spheres  he  treats  in  an  inconsistent 
way,  sometimes  speaking  of  seven  concentric  inner  spheres, 
and  sometimes  of  only  one.^  The  relative  size  of  sun, 
earth,  and  moon  is  accurately  given — though,  it  appears, 
not  without  misgiving  * — and  also  the  cause  of  eclipses  of 
both  the  sun  and  the  moon. 

The  subject  of  greatest  interest  in  this  connection  is,  of 
course,  the  question  whether  or  not  Isidore  believed  in  the 
sphericity  of  the  earth.  It  is  maintaind  by  some  authorities 
that  this  notion  was  not  lost  at  any  time  during  the  middle 
ages.  Isidore  certainly  believed  that  the  heavens  consti- 
tuted a  sphere  or  spheres,  and  that  the  sun  and  moon  re- 
volved in  circles  around  the  earth.    He  states  the  theory  of 

*  For  Isidore's  physical  universe  in  general,  see  Etyni.  3,  24-71  ;   13, 
4-6;  De  Natura  Rerum,  9-27.     See  pp.  142-154,  234,  243. 

'  Isidore  seems  to  have  kept  an  open  mind  on  the  question  of  the 
number  of  the  spheres.  He  says:  de  numero  eorum  [coelorum]  nihil' 
sibi  praesumat  humana  temeritas.    D.  N.  R.,  13,  i, 

3  See  2,  24,  2  (p.  116). 


5i]  ISIDORE'S  WORLD  VIEW  ^  5 1 

the  zones  correctly  in  two  passages/  applying  it,  however, 
not  to  the  spherical  earth  but  to  the  sphere  of  the  heavens. 
On  the  other  hand,  he  frequently  gives  expression  to 
notions  belonging  to  a  primitive  cosmology.^  The  suspicion 
is  aroused,  therefore,  that  when  he  was  stating  astronomi- 
cal ideas,  he  was  usually  simply  copying  what  perhaps  he 
did  not  understand.  A  passage  that  seems  to  settle  the 
matter  is  found  in  De  Natura  Reruni.  It  shows  that  the 
fact  that  he  could  state  such  a  theory  as  that  of  the  zones 
correctly,  is  no  proof  that  he  understood  its  application  to 
the  earth.    A  translation  of  the  passage  follows : 

In  describing  the  universe  the  philosophers  mention  five  circles, 
which  the  Greeks  call  irapa'klTi'koiy  that  is,  zones,  into  which  the 
circle  of  lands  is  divided.  .  .  .  Now  let  us  imagine  them  after 
the  manner  of  our  right  hand,  so  that  the  thumb  may  be  called 
the  Arctic  circle,  uninhabitable  because  of  cold ;  the  second, 
the  summer  circle,  temperate,  inhabitable;  the  middle  (finger), 
the  equinoctial  (Isemerinus)  circle,  torrid,  uninhabitable;  the 
fourth,  the  winter  circle,  temperate,  inhabitable ;  the  fifth,  the 
Antarctic  circle,  frigid,  uninhabitable.  The  first  of  these  is  the 
northern,  the  second,  the  solstitial,  the  third,  the  equinoctial, 
the  fourth,  the  winter  circle,  the  fifth,  the  southern.  .  .  .  The 
following  figure  shows  the  divisions  of  these  circles.  (Fig.  i.) 
Now,  the  equinoctial  circle  is  uninhabitable  because  the  sun, 
speeding  through  the  midst  of  the  heaven,  creates  an  excessive 
heat  in  these  places,  so  that,  on  account  of  the  parched  earth, 
crops  do  not  grow  there,  nor  are  men  permitted  to  dwell  there, 
because  of  the  great  heat.  But,  on  the  other  hand,  the  northern 
and  southern  circles,  being  adjacent  to  each  other,  are  not  in- 
habited, for  the  reason  that  they  are  situated  far  from  the  sun's 
course,  and  are  rendered  waste  by  the  great  rigor  of  the 
climate  and  the  icy  blasts  of  the  winds.     But  the  circle  of  the 

13,  44;  13,  6.    See  p.  146. 
'  See  Appendix  I. 


52  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [52 

summer  solstice  which  is  situated  in  the  east,  between  the 
northern  circle  and  the  circle  of  heat,  and  the  circle  which  is 
placed  in  the  zucst,  between  the  circle  of  the  heat  and  the  south- 

FlG.   I 


em  circle,  are  temperate  for  the  reason  that  they  derive  cold 
from  one  circle,  heat  from  the  other.     Of  which  Virgil  [says]  : 

"  Between  these  and  the  middle  [zone]  two  are  granted  to 
wretched  mortals  by  the  gift  of  the  gods." 

Now,  they  who  are  next  to  the  torrid  circle  are  the  Ethio- 
pians, who  are  burnt  by  excessive  heat.^ 

*  De  Quinque  Circulis. 

"  In  definitione  autem  mundi  circulos  aiunt  philosophi  quinque,  quos 
Graeci  napaXXiflovg — id  est,  zonas — vocant,  in  quibus  dividitur  orbis 
terrae.  .  .  .  Sed  fingamus  eas  in  modum  dextrae  nostrae,  ut  pollex 
sit  circulus  apKrtKd^,  frigore  inhabitabilis ;  secundus  circulus  Oepivbc, 
temperatus  habitabilis;  medius  circulus  lavfj-ep'vb^^  torridus  inhabita- 
bilis ;  quartus  circulus  x^^f^^P^vbc,  temperatus  habitabilis ;  quintus  circulus 


53]  ISIDORE'S  WORLD  VIEW  53 

The  explanation  of  the  passage  and  of  the  figure  which 
illustrates  it  seems  to  be  that  Isidore  accepted  the  termin- 
ology of  the  spherical  earth  from  Hyginus  ^  without  taking 
the  time  to  understand  it — if  indeed  he  had  the  ability  to 
do  so — and  applied  it  without  compunction  to  the  flat  earth. 
He  evidently  thought  that  zona  and  circiilus  were  inter- 
changeable terms,^  and  his  "  circles  "  did  not  run  around 
the  circumference  of  a  spherical  earth,  but  lay  flat  on  a  flat 
earth,  where  they  filled  with  sufficient  completeness  the 
orbis  terrae  or  circle  of  the  land.^    The  adjustment  of  the 

avTapKTiKog^    frigidus  inhabitabilis.     Horum  primus  septentrionalis  est, 
secundas   solstitialis,   tertius   aequinoctialis,   quartus   hiemalis,   quintus 
australis.  .  .  . 
"Quorum  circulorum  divisiones  talis  distinguit  figura   (Fig.   I). 

3.  "  Sed  ideo  aequinoctialis  circulus  inhabitabilis  est,  quia  sol  per 
medium  coelum  currens  nimium  his  locis  facit  fervorem,  ita  ut  nee 
fruges  ibi  nascantur  propter  exustam  terram,  nee  homines  propter 
nimium  ardorem  habitare  permittantur.  At  contra  septentrionalis  et 
australis  circuli  sibi  conjuncti  idcirco  non  habitantur,  quia  a  cursu 
solis  longe  positi  sunt,  nimioque  caeli  rigore  ventorumque  gelidis 
flatibus   contabescunt. 

4.  "  Solstitialis  vero  circulus,  qui  in  Oriente  inter  septentrionalem 
et  aestivum  est  collocatus,  vel  iste  qui  in  Occidente  inter  aestivum  et 
australem  est  positus,  ideo  temperati  sunt  eo  quod  ex  uno  circulo 
rigorem,  ex  altero  calorem  habeant.     De  quibus  Virgilius : 

"  Has  inter   mediamque  duae  mortalibus  aegris 
Munere   concessae   divum. 

"  Sed  qui  proximi  sunt  aestivo  circulo,  ipsi  sunt  Aethiopes  nimio 
calore  perusti."    De  Natura  Rerum,  ch.  x. 

*  The  two  passages  in  which  Isidore  states  the  theory  of  the  zones 
correctly  are  from  Hyginus,  Poeticon  Astronomicon  (Mythographi 
Latini,  ed.  Muncker,  Amsterdam,  1691).     Cf.  p.  146. 

2  For  a  similar  confusion  of  sphaera  and  circulus  see  Appendix  I. 

'  That  this  was  Isidore's  conception  of  the  land  surface  is  evident 
from  many  passages  {e.  g.,  see  p.  244)  and  is  made  certain  from  his 
map  (p.  5).  This  map  is  found  in  an  old  edition  of  the  Etymologies 
(Libri  Etymologiarum  .  .  .  et  de  Summo  Bono  Libri  III,  Venetiis, 
1483)  in  the  library  of  Union  Theological  Seminary. 


54  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [54 

two  conflicting  theories  was  extremely  crude,  since  it  in- 
volved placing  the  arctic  and  antarctic  circles  side  by  side, 
and  the  two  temperate  circles  on€  in  the  east  and  one  in  the 
west. 

By  such  a  blunder  as  this  may  be  measured  the  stagna- 
tion of  the  secular  thought  of  the  time.  Of  Greek  science 
only  remnants  were  in  existence,  and  these  were  regarded 
with  indifference.  Writers  like  Isidore  might  use  them,  but 
they  did  not  hesitate  to  mangle  and  distort  them.  More- 
over they  were  given  only  second  place  even  in  the  science 
of  the  day;  the  first  place  was  held  by  the  notions  of  the 
natural  world  expressed  in  the  Scriptures.  Each  one  of 
these,  no  matter  how  primitive  or  how  figurative,  had  to 
be  taken  seriously  into  account  and  given  its  proper  weight 
in  building  up  the  general  scheme.  In  this  intellectual  ac- 
tivity Isidore  is  more  at  home  than  when  he  is  handling  the 
ideas  of  the  pagans,  as  may  be  perceived  from  his  discus- 
sion of  the  shape  of  the  firmament:  ''As  to  its  shape, 
whether  it  covers  the  earth  from  above  like  a  plate,  or  like 
an  egg-shell  shuts  the  whole  creation  in  on  every  side, 
thinkers  take  opposite  views.  For  the  mention  the  Psalmist 
makes  of  this  when  he  says :  Extendas  coelum  sicut  pellem,^ 
does  not  conflict  with  either  opinion,  since  when  his  own 
skin  covers  any  animal,  it  envelopes  equally  every  part  all 
around,  and  when  it  is  removed  from  the  flesh  and  stretched 
out,  there  is  no  doubt  that  it  can  form  a  chamber  either 
rectangular  or  curved."  ^ 

The  vastness  of  the  physical  universe  is  an  idea  not  pre- 
sented in  Isidore's  writings.  It  was  for  his  mind  really  a 
small  universe,  and  one  limited  sharply  by  definite  bound- 
aries both  in  time  and  space.    It  had  begun  at  the  creation, 

*  Cf.  Psalms,  104,  2. 

'  De  Ordine  Creaturarum  Liber,  4,  1-2, 


55]  ISIDORE'S  WORLD  VIEW  55 

rts  matter  being  constituted  at  that  time  out  of  nothing,  and 
it  was  to  have  an  end  as  sharply  marked.  It  extended 
from  the  earth  to  the  sphere  of  the  heavens  v^hich  revolved 
about  the  earth,  and  what  was  beyond  scarcely  appears  even 
as  a  question.  It  was  a  universe  in  which  high  winds 
might,  and  sometimes  did,  dislodge  particles  from  the  fiery 
heavens ;  ^  and  in  which  the  sun  approached  so  close  to 
some  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  earth  as  to  scorch  them.^ 
In  truth,  Isidore's  universe  was  reduced  to  rather  stifling 
proportions. 

A  fundamental  part  of  Isidore's  world-philosophy  was 
his  view  of  the  constitution  of  matter.  This  is  closely 
bound  up  with  his  conception  of  the  form  of  the  universe, 
and  it  is  also  the  most  important  of  his  ideas  in  the  field  of 
natural  science. 

He  believed  in  the  existence  of  the  four  elements,  earth, 
air,  fire,  and  water,^  and  that  they  were  the  visible  mani- 
festations of  one  underlying  matter.*  They  were  not  mu- 
tually exclusive  but  "  all  elements  existed  in  all  ",  and  it 
was  possible  for  one  element  to  be  transmuted  into  an- 
other. Their  properties  were  not  invariable,  but  as  a  rule 
fire  is  spoken  of  as  hot  and  dry;  air,  hot  and  wet;  water, 
wet  and  cold ;  earth,  cold  and  dry.  It  will  be  observed  that 
each  successive  pair  of  elements  had  a  common  quality: 
thus  fire  and  air  shared  the  quality  of  '  hot ' ;  air  and 
water,  that  of  '  wet ' ;  water  and  earth,  that  of  '  cold ' ; 
earth  and  fire,  that  of  '  dry  '.     It  was  by  the  aid  of  these 

*  3,  71,  3. 

'  De  Natura  Rerum,  ch.  10. 

'  For  a  clear  account  of  the  theory  of  the  four  elements  in  medieval 
thought  see  Les  Quatre  Elements,  J.  Leminne  in  Memoires  couronees 
par  I' Academie  Royale  de  Belgique,  v.  65,  Bruxelles,  1903. 

^  Etym.,  13,  3.     Cf.  D.  N.  R.,  11. 


56  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [56 

common  qualities,  which  served  as  means,  that  the  elements 
could  be  more  easily  thought  of  as  passing  into  each  other/ 

It  should  be  remarked  that  the  general  idea  is  the  same 
as  that  of  modern  chemistry  in  so  far  as  it  assumes  that 
there  are  elements  and  attributes  properties  to  them.  The 
difference  is  that  the  modern  chemist  insists  that  the  prop- 
erties shall  be  fixed  for  each  element,  while  Isidore  has  no 
consciousness  of  such  a  necessity.  For  instance,  in  a  chap- 
ter of  De  Natura  Reriim  he  attributes  two  separate  sets  of 
properties  to  the  four  elements,  without  realizing  at  all 
the  confusion  of  such  a  procedure.  Again,  from  the  point 
of  view  of  the  best  ancient  conception  of  the  four  elements, 
Isidore  is  equally  at  fault.  For  Aristotle  the  names  given 
to  them  had  been  merely  labels.  He  perceived  in  the 
natural  world  two  significant  sets  of  opposing  qualities, 
namely,  hot  and  cold,  wet  and  dry.  These  sets  of  opposing 
qualities  interpenetrated  one  another:  the  result  was  four 
possible  combinations,  namely,  hot  and  dry,  hot  and  wet, 
cold  and  wet,  cold  and  dry.  His  elements  designated 
merely  these  combinations  and  were  nothing  more  than 
conventional  names  for  them.  Isidore,  however,  took  the 
names  of  the  elements  in  a  literal  sense.  ^  The  label  itself 
had  become  important,  while  what  stood  behind  it  and  gave 
it  its  value  was  regarded  as  almost  meaningless.  What 
has  happened  here  is  typical  of  the  whole  development  of 
ancient  thought  down  to  Isidore's  time. 

Of  Aristotle's  conception  of  a  fifth  element,  the  quinta 
essentia,  or  ether,  superior  to  the  others  and  permeating 
them,  Isidore  shows  merely  a  trace.   He  says  in  one  passage 

1  The  theory  of  atoms  is  also  stated  by  Isidore.  See  p.  235.  It  is 
not  used,  however,  and  is  not  fully  stated.  The  part  played  in  the 
theory  by  atoms  of  different  sizes  is  not  mentioned,  and  although 
"the  void"  is  mentioned,  its  importance  is  not  brought  out. 

"  See  Art.  "Chemistry,"  Encyclopedia  Britannica,  nth  edition. 


57J  ISIDORE'S  WORLD  VIEW  ^j 

that  "  ether  is  the  place  where  the  stars  are,  and  it  signifies 
that  fire  which  is  separated  on  high  from  all  the  universe"/ 
He  offers  also  another  definition  in  which  he  confuses  three 
of  the  elements  of  Aristotle :  '*  Ether  is  the  upper,  fiery 
air  ".^ 

The  theory  of  the  four  elements,  as  has  been  already  in- 
dicated, has  a  cosmological  bearing.  In  the  universe  at 
large  the  elements  were  thought  of  as  tending  to  arrange 
themselves  in  strata  according  to  weight.  Isidore  says  it 
is  proved  "  that  earth  is  the  heaviest  of  all  things  created; 
and  therefore,  they  say,  it  holds  the  lowest  place  in  the 
creation,  because  by  nature  nothing  but  itself  can  support 
it.  And  we  perceive  that  water  is  heavier  than  air  in  pro- 
portion as  it  is  lighter  than  earth.  .  .  .  Fire,  too,  is  appre- 
hended to  be  in  its  nature  above  air,  which  is  easily  proved 
even  in  the  case  of  fire  that  burns  in  earthy  substance, 
since  as  soon  as  it  is  kindled,  it  directs  its  flame  toward  the 
upper  spaces  which  are  above  the  air,  where  there  is  an 
abundance  of  it,  and  where  it  has  its  place."  ^ 

Thus  the  physical  universe  consists  of  the  four  kinds  of 
matter,  stratified  according  to  the  principle  of  weight.  The 
notion  was  one  in  frequent  use,*  and  it  was  brought  into 

*  Etym.,  13,  5,  I. 
2  £>i/f .,  I,  82. 

'  De  Ordine  Great.  Liber,  4,  5-6.  Cf.  D.  N.  R.,  11.  The  problem  of 
**  the  waters  above  the  firmament,"  which  occupied  the  minds  of  the 
church  fathers  so  much,  and  which  is  at  variance  with  the  cosmolog- 
ical side  of  the  theory  of  the  four  elements,  Isidore  seems  inclined  to 
settle  by  regarding  it  as  a  miracle.    Cf.  D.  N.  R.,  14. 

*  In  the  De  Natura  Rertim  and  the  De  Ordine  Creaturarum,  as  well 
as  in  Books  XIII-XIV  of  the  Etymologies,  Isidore  follows  the  order 
of  the  four  elements  in  describing  the  universe.  His  fidelity  to  this 
order,  as  well  as  the  variations  of  emphasis  and  of  minor  treatment 
which  he  introduced  into  it,  are  of  interest.  These  may  be  exhibited 
in  parallel  form  as  follows:  \ 


58  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [58 

relation  with  animate  existence  by  assigning  to  each  of  the 
four  strata  a  peculiar  population.     Thus  the  fiery  heavens 
were  occupied  by  angels ;  the  air,  by  birds  and  demons ;  the 
water,  by  fishes;  the  earth,  by  man  and  other  animals/ 
The  theory  of  the  four  elements  was  fertile  in  every 


Etymologies 

De  A'atura 

De  Ordine 

Books  xiii  and  xiv 

Kerum 

Creaturarum 

xiii,  chaps.  4-6 

chaps.  9-27 

4-6 

Fire 

Astronomy 

Astronomy,  fuller 

Astronomy,  briefer,  with 

(the 

an    account    of    the 

heavens) 

angels,  the  inhabit- 
ants of  the  element 
of  fire 

xiii,  7-12 

28-39 

7-8 

Air 

The  atmosphere  and 

The  same,  fuller 

The  same,  briefer,  with 

meteorological 

an    account    of    de- 

phenomena 

mons,  the  inhabitants 
of  the  air 

XUl,   12-22 

Water  A  description  of 

water  with  a  geog- 
raphy of  the  water 
surface  of  the  earth 


40-44  9 

The  same  in  very    The  same,  briefer,  with- 
much  abbreviated      out  the  geography 
form  * 


xiv,  1-9 
A  description  of  the 
dry  land  with  a 
geography  of  the 
land  surface  of  the 
earth 


45-48  10-15 

Earth  A  description  of  the     The  same  in  very     The  same,  briefer  than 

much  abbreviated      in    De   Natura    Ke- 
form  rum,  with  an  account 

of  men  as  the  inhab- 
itants of  this  element, 
their  nature  and 
future  life 

This  table  indicates  the  great  stress  Isidore  laid  upon  the  cosmo- 
logical  side  of  the  theory  of  the  four  elements,  as  v^rell  as  his  ten- 
dency to  use  his  large  general  ideas  in  relating  the  individual  branches 
of  knowledge.  Here  astronomy,  meteorology,  and  geography  are  thus 
grouped  together,  and  angelology  is  put  into  relation  with  astronomy 
and  demonology  with  meteorology. 

»  Etym.,  13,  3,  3,  and  8,  11,  17. 


59]  ISIDORE'S  WORLD  VIEW  59 

branch  of  the  natural  science  of  medieval  times.  Isidore 
uses  it,  for  example,  to  explain  the  physical  constitution 
of  man: 

Man's  body  is  divided  among  the  four  elements.  For  he  has 
in  him  something  of  fire,  of  air,  of  water,  and  of  earth.  There 
is  the  quality  of  earth  in  the  flesh,  of  moisture  in  the  blood, 
of  air  in  the  breath,  of  fire  in  the  vital  heat.  Moreover,  the 
four-fold  division  of  the  human  body  indicates  the  four  ele- 
ments. Foe  the  head  is  related  to  the  heavens,  and  in  it  are 
two  eyes,  as  it  were  the  luminaries  of  the  sun  and  moon.  The 
breast  is  akin  to  the  air,  because  the  breathings  are  emitted 
from  it  as  the  breath  of  the  winds  from  the  air.  The  belly  is 
likened  to  the  sea,  because  of  the  collection  of  all  the  humors, 
the  gathering  of  the  waters  as  it  were.  The  feet,  finally,  are 
•compared  to  the  earth,  because  they  are  dry  like  the  earth. 
Further,  the  mind  is  placed  in  the  citadel  of  the  head  like  God 
in  the  heavens,  to  look  upon  and  govern  all  from  a  high  place. ^ 

In  another  passage  Isidore  tells  us  that  fire  has  its  seat  in 
the  liver,  and  that  "  it  flies  thence  up  to  the  head  as  if  to 
the  heavens  of  our  body.  From  this  fire  the  rays  of  the 
eyes  flash,  and  from  the  middle  of  it,  as  from  a  center, 
narrow  passages  lead  not  only  to  the  eyes  but  to  the  other 
senses  ".^ 

Naturally  the  four  elements  play  a  great  part  in  medi- 
cine. They  are  related  to  the  four  humors,  blood,  yellow 
bile,  black  bile,  and  phlegm.  "  Each  humor  imitates  its  ele- 
ment ;  blood,  air ;  ^  yellow  bile,  fire ;  black  bile,  earth ; 
phlegm,  water.  Health  depends  on  the  proper  blending  of 
these  humors."  *    It  appears  to  have  been  the  belief  of  the 

1  Diff.,  2,  17,  48.  '  Diff.,  2,  17,  67. 

•  Here  blood  and  the  element,  air,  are  related ;  the  passage  quoted 
in  the  preceding  paragraph  shows  a  similar  relation  between  blood 
and  the  element  water.    Such  inconsistencies  are  extremely  common. 

*  Etym.,  4.  5. 


6o  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [60 

time  that  the  humors  possessed  each  the  same  qualities  as 
the  corresponding  element.  Medical  reasoning  might  con- 
fine itself  to  the  four  humors  or  it  might  go  back  of  them 
to  the  four  elements,  as  in  the  explanation  of  vertigo, 
where  the  diagnosis  indicates,  apparently,  the  transmuta- 
tion of  one  element  into  another.  Isidore  says :  "  The 
arteriae  [air  passages]  and  veins  produce  a  windiness  in 
man's  head  from  a  resolving  of  moisture,  and  make  a 
whirling  in  his  eyes  whence  it  is  called  vertigo  ".  ^ 

That  notions  of  such  a  loose,  semi-philosophical  nature 
should  survive  while  the  solid  empirical  content  of  medical 
science  faded  away,  is  characteristic  of  the  decline  of 
thought  which  culminated  in  the  dark  ages.  The  science 
of  medicine  had  cut  itself  loose  from  concrete  things,  and 
attached  itself  almost  exclusively  to  the  vague  philosophical 
conceptions  from  which  even  the  best  Greek  thinkers  had 
not  been  able  to  free  it. 

The  phenomena  of  meteorology,  also,  were  explained 
largely  by  the  four  elements.  The  upper  air  was  believed 
to  be  akin  to  the  fire  above  it,  and  was  therefore  calm  and 
cloudless;  while  the  lower  air  was  supposed  to  be  cloudy 
and  disturbed  by  storms  because  of  its  proximity  to  water, 
the  next  element  below  it  in  the  series.^  Further,  the  belief 
in  the  possibility  of  the  transmutation  of  elements  was  of 
use  here.  Air,  for  example,  might  be  transmuted  into 
water,  or  water  into  air.*  As  Isidore  puts  it:  "  [air]  being 
contracted,  makes  clouds;  being  thickened,  rain;  when  the 
clouds  freeze,  snow;  when  thick  clouds  freeze  in  a  more 
disordered  way,  hail;  being  spread  abroad,  it  causes  fine 
weather,  for  it  is  well-known  that  thick  air  is  a  cloud,  and  a 
rarified  and  spread-out  cloud  is  air."  * 

^l  Etym.,  4,  7,  4-  '  Etym.,  13,  7,  i.  «  Etym.,  13,  3. 

*  Etym.,  13,  7.     Almost  side  by  side  with  this  explanation  of  rain  is 
another  which  says  that  rains  "  arise  from  an  exhalation  from  land 


6i] 


ISIDORE'S  WORLD  VIEW 


6i 


The  most  remote  fields  are  invaded  by  the  four  elements. 
It  is  by  reference  to  them  that  the  seasons  are  explained. 
Here  use  is  made  rather  of  their  properties  than  of  the  ele- 
ments themselves.     "  The  spring  is  composed  of  moisture 


Fig.  2 


V^"" 


^^cv 


A 

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^,JiAESTAS_\^ 

^       / 

cA 

1 

V 

/MERIDieS\^ 

\i 

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/             ^            \ 

O    ^^"^N^ 

^  c?^^ 

=<:' 

21 

(     MU%DUS     J 

5  ^ 
^  1 

^>> 

-~, 

^^ 

y   5     y 

l|^ 

*- 

i% 

AN 

^^ — ^ 

A 

^y 

\% 

/     ^ 

\            J 

/    \ 

^/ 

\ 

/^ 

\     'hlN31d39/ 

^ 

i 

7/^ 


voiSi 


and  heat;  the  summer,  of  fire  and  dryness;  the  autumn,  of 
dryness  and  cold;  the  winter,  of  cold  and  miosture."  * 
From  this  the  transition  is  easy  to  another  far-fetched  ap- 
plication of  the  theory.  The  four  quarters  of  the  universe, 
East,  West,  North,  and  South,  are  connected  with  the  four 
seasons,  and  thus  with  the  four  elements.    This  conception 

and  sea,  which  being  carried  aloft  falls  in  drops  on  the  lands,  being 
acted  upon  by  the  sun's  heat,  or  condensed  by  strong  winds,"  13,  10,  2. 
Lightning  is  explained  as  caused  by  the  collision  of  clouds  (13,  9,  i)  ; 
thunder,  by  their  bursting  (13,  8)  ;  the  rain-bow,  by  the  sun  shining 
into  a  hollow  cloud  (13,  10,  i). 
»  D.  N.  R.,  7,  4.    Cf.  Etym.,  5,  35,  i- 


62 


ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE 


[62 


seemed  to  Isidore  so  important  that  he  introduced  a  figure 
to  illustrate  it.     (Fig.  II.) 

The  old  notion  that  man  is  a  microcosm  or  parallel  of 
the  universe  on  a  small  scale,  was  familiar  to  Isidore.  As 
has  been  shown,  he  believed  that  man  was  composed  of 
the  same  four  elements  as  the  universe,  and  that  they  were 

Fig.  3 


distributed  in  him  in  much  the  same  way  as  in  it.  It  was 
going  only  a  step  further  for  him  to  declare  that  "  all  things 
are  contained  in  man,  and  in  him  exists  the  nature  of  all 
things  " ;  ^  after  which  it  was  easy  "  to  place  man  in  com- 
munion  with  the  fabric  of  the  universe  "  ^  by  means  of  a 
figure.     (Fig.  III.) 

1  Sent.,  I,  II,  I. 

'  "  Mundus  est  universitas  omnis,  quae  constat  ex  coelo  et  terra.  .  . 
Secundum  mysticum  sensum,  mundus  competenter  homo  significatur,. 


63]  ISIDORE'S  WORLD  VIEW  63 

The  idea  of  the  parallelism  of  man  and  the  universe, 
when  thus  literally  conceived,  was  a  fruitful  one.  Man 
could  be  explained  by  the  universe.  And  the  process  could 
be  reversed  and  the  universe  also  explained  by  man,  since 
man  may  be  observed  in  his  entirety  and  his  life  history 
may  be  easily  followed,  while  that  of  the  universe  may  not. 
Isidore  doubtless  took  this  view,  for  he  says :  ''  The  plan 
of  the  universe  is  to  be  inquired  into  according  to  man 
alone.  For  just  as  man  passes  to  his  end  through  definite 
ages,  so  too  the  universe  is  passing  away  during  this  pro- 
longed time,  since  both  man  and  the  universe  decay  after 
they  reach  their  growth."  ^  The  division  of  the  life  of  the 
universe,  for  example,  into  six  definite  ages,  which  he  in- 
corporated into  his  chronology,  was  given  greater  certainty 
and  meaning  from  the  similar  division  of  man's  life  into 
six  ages. 

The  wide  scope  assigned  by  Isidore  to  the  action  of  the 
four  elements — which  scope  includes  the  immaterial  as  well 
as  the  material — is  completely  alien  to  the  modern  way  of 
thinking;  as  is,  also,  the  bringing  of  the  universe,  the  year, 
and  man,  into  so  intimate  and  specific  a  connection.  Still 
more  difficult  is  it  for  us  to  grasp  such  an  idea  as  that  the 
ounce  "  is  reckoned  a  lawful  weight  because  the  number 
of  its  scruples  measures  the  hours  of  the  day  and  night  " ;  ^ 
or  that  "  the  Hebrews  use  twenty-two  letters  of  the  alpha- 
bet, following  the  [number  of]  books  in  the  Old  Testa- 
ment ".^  And  the  climax  is  reached  when  he  expresses  the 
notion  that  a  man  bursts  into  tears  as  soon  as  he  casts  him- 

quia  sicut  ille  ex  quatuor  concretus  est  elementis,  ita  et  iste  constat 
quatuor  humoribus  uno  temperamento  commistis.  Unde  et  veteres 
hominem  in  communionem  fabricae  mundi  constituerunt.  Siquidem 
Graece  mundus  k<5(t//o?,  homo  autem  fiiKpoKoa/xo^,  id  est  minor  mundus, 
est  appellatus."    D.  N.  R.,  9,  2,  and  3.    Cf.  11,  3. 

1  Sentent,  i,  8,  1-2.  2  Etym.,  16,  25,  19. 

3  Etym.,  I,  3,  4.    Cf.  6,  i,  3. 


64  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [64 

self  down  on  his  knees,  because  the  knees  and  the  eyes  are 
close  together  in  the  womb/ 

Although  these  examples  of  Isidore's  thinking  afford  ex- 
cellent proof  of  his  incoherence  and  lack  of  logical  con- 
secutiveness,  their  explanation  goes  deeper.  Like  all  primi- 
tive thinkers,  those  of  medieval  times  were  firmly  con- 
vinced of  the  solidarity  of  the  universe;  they  felt  its  unity 
much  more  strongly  than  they  did  its  multiplicity;  what 
we  regard  as  separate  kinds  of  phenomena  and  separate 
ways  of  viewing  the  universe  they  regarded  as  of  necessity 
closely  inter-related.  There  were  no  categories  of  thought 
that  were  for  them  mutually  exclusive;  they  carried  their 
ideas  without  hesitation  from  the  material  into  the  imma- 
terial, and  from  the  natural  into  the  supernatural.  No 
conception  established  in  one  sphere  seemed  impertinent  in 
any  other.  It  was  this  state  of  mind  that  enabled  the  medi- 
eval thinker  to  take  such  erratic  leaps  from  one  sphere  of 
thought  to  another,  without  any  feeling  of  uncertainty  or 
any  fear  of  getting  lost.^ 

Perhaps  nothing  illustrates  more  clearly  the  erratic  think- 
ing to  which  this  idea  of  the  solidarity  of  the  universe  led, 
than  the  way  in  which  Isidore  reasons  about  number.  To 
his  mind  the  fact,  for  instance,  that  "  God  in  the  beginning 
made  twenty-two  works  "  explains  why  there  are  twenty- 
two  sextarii  in  the  bushel ;  and  that  "  there  were  twenty- 
two  generations  from  Adam  to  Jacob,  and  twenty-two 
books  of  the  Old  Testament  as  far  as  Esther,  and  twenty- 

1  Etym.,  II,  I,  109.    Cf.  Diff.,  2,  17,  56  and  71. 

'  While  this  mode  of  viewing  the  universe  had  its  origin  in  pagan 
antiquity,  and  even  earlier,  its  scope  was  greatly  enlarged  by  Christian 
thinkers.  Living  in  a  world  whose  general  constitution  and  purpose 
they  thought  they  thoroughly  understood,  they  were  confident  that 
even  in  its  smallest  details  there  could  be  perceived  a  conscious  adap- 
tation to  the  whole.  This  idea  they  often  carried  so  far  as  seemingly 
to  leave  no  place  for  chance  or  convention.  Each  trifling  matter  was 
given  a  meaning  that  was  greater  than  itself. 


65]  ISIDORE'S  WORLD  VIEW  6^ 

two  letters  of  the  alphabet  out  of  which  the  divine  law  is 
composed "/  were  additional  explanations  for  the  same 
thing.  A  like  connection  is  found  in  his  statement  that 
"  the  pound  is  counted  a  kind  of  perfect  weight  because  it 
is  made  up  of  as  many  ounces  as  the  year  has  months  ".^ 

Isidore's  conceptions  in  regard  to  number,  indeed,  de- 
serve to  be  ranked  closely  after  the  theory  of  the  four  ele- 
ments as  affording  to  him  "  paths  of  intelligence  "  through 
the  universe,  material  and  immaterial.  Both  in  the  world 
at  large  and  in  the  microcosm  of  man  the  harmony  of 
"  musical  numbers  "  is  an  essential ;  ^  and  number  is  also 
an  essential  factor  in  every  part  and  aspect  of  the  uni- 
verse. ''  Take  number  from  all  things,"  he  says,  "  and  all 
things  perish."  *  However,  his  idea  of  the  importance  of 
number  in  the  world  is  equaled  only  by  the  vagueness  with 
which  he  conceived  its  operations  as  a  working  principle. 
Here  he  takes  absolute  leave  of  the  logic  which,  in  his  ac- 
count of  the  four  elements,  he  had  already  so  often  left 
behind.  The  best  he  could  do,  in  describing  the  actual 
operation  of  this  principle,  was  to  make  lists  of  instances 
in  which  the  same  number  occurred,  and  no  matter  how 
unrelated  the  spheres  of  thought  thus  connected,  to  assume 
their  close  interrelation  and  explanation  of  one  another. 

It  is  now  clear  that  according  to  Isidore's  way  of  think- 
ing, a  fact  belonging  to  one  set  of  phenomena  might  be 
caused  or  explained  by  something  totally  different  in  an- 
other sphere.  This  being  so,  it  was  inevitable  that  there 
should  be  an  effort  to  pass  from  the  known  to  the  unknown 
along  the  path  thus  suggested.  When  we  reflect  that,  for 
the  medieval  thinker,  there  were  three  kinds  of  knowledge 
— namely,  knowledge  of  the  material,  the  moral,  and  the 

*  Etym.,  16,  26,  10.  *Etym.,  16,  25,  20. 

•  Etym.,  3,  23,  2.  *Etym.,  3,  4,  3. 


66  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [66 

Spiritual — and  that  they  were  in  an  ascending  scale  of 
value,  it  will  appear  equally  inevitable  that  this  effort  to 
pass  from  the  known  to  the  unknown  should  be  mainly  an 
effort  to  pass  from  the  material  and  obvious  to  the  in- 
tangible and  unseen,  though  more  real,  spiritual  world.  In 
this  consideration  we  have  the  chief  explanation  of  medi- 
eval allegory/ 

In  Isidore  we  find  that  allegorical  interpretation  is  a 
thing  of  little  spontaniety.  The  allegorizing  of  the  Scrip- 
tures had  long  before  his  time  settled  down  into  a  system. 
In  his  Certain  Allegories  of  the  Holy  Scriptures  a  list  is 
given  of  the  most  noted  mystical  interpretations  of  Scrip- 
ture, a  dry  enumeration,  with  now  and  then  an  interesting 
side-light  upon  the  opinion  of  the  time.  The  extent  to 
which  the  Scripture  was  subject  to  allegorizing  may  be 
guessed  from  the  fact  that  Isidore  specifies  that  "  the  ten 
commandments  must  be  taken  literally  ".^  Allegory  is 
applied  also  to  the  phenomena  of  nature.  In  De  Natura 
Reruni  Isidore  makes  a  regular  practice  of  first  giving  the 

*  The  explanation  suggested  accounts  for  the  prevalence  of  allegory 
in  medieval  times.  Among  the  less  comprehensive  and  not  character- 
istically medieval  causes  for  it  must  be  reckoned  the  influence  of  the 
parables  that  are  explained  in  the  New  Testament,  the  occasional 
grossness  of  Biblical  characters  and  language  which  called  for  an 
interpretation  that  would  remove  offence  and  offer  edification,  the 
congenial  activity  which  allegorizing  offered  to  the  pious  mind,  and, 
finally,  the  fact  that  by  a  clever  use  of  allegorical  interpretation  some 
desired  end  might  be  obtained. 

2  Migne,  P.  L.,  83,  col.  303.  "  Inter  haec  igitur  omnia  decem  prae- 
cepta  solum  ibi  quod  de  Sabbato  positum  est  figurate  observandum 
praecipitur.  Quam  figuram  nos  intelligendam,  non  etiam  per  otium 
corporale  celebrandam,  suscipimus.  Reliqua  tamen  ibi  praecepta 
proprie  praecepta  sunt,  quae  sine  ulla  figurata  significatione  obser- 
vantur.  Nihil  enim  mystice  significant,  sed  sic  intelliguntur  ut  sonant. 
Et  notandum  quia  sicut  decem  plagis  percutiuntur  Aegyptii,  sic  decem 
praeceptis  conscribuntur  tabulae,  quibus  regantur  populi  Dei."  The 
Scriptures  were  for  Isidore  un  vasto  simbolismo  (Canal,  San  Isidoro, 
P-  51)- 


6y]  ISIDORE'S  WORLD  VIEW  67 

explanation  of  natural  phenomena  and  following  this  with 
the  "  higher  meaning  ".  Thus  the  sun  has  Christ  for  its 
allegorical  meaning;  the  stars,  the  saints;  thunder  is  "the 
rebuke  from  on  high  of  the  divine  voice  ",  or  it  may  be 
"  the  loud  preaching  of  the  saints,  which  dins  with  loud 
clamor  in  the  ears  of  the  faithful  over  all  the  circle  of  the 
lands  ".^  In  the  Etymologies  this  "higher  meaning"  of  na- 
tural objects  is  rarely  given. 

The  view  held  in  the  dark  ages  of  the  natural  and  the 
supernatural  and  of  their  relative  proportions  in  the  out- 
look on  life,  was  precisely  the  reverse  of  that  held  by  in- 
telligent men  in  modern  times.  For  us  the  material  uni- 
verse has  taken  on  the  aspect  of  order;  within  its  limits 
phenomena  seem  to  follow  definite  modes  of  behavior, 
upon  the  evidence  of  which  a  body  of  scientific  knowledge 
has  been  built  up.  Indeed  at  times  in  certain  branches  of 
science  there  has  been  danger  of  a  dogmatism  akin  to,  if 
the  reverse  of,  that  which  prevailed  in  medieval  times  with 
reference  to  the  supernatural.  On  the  other  hand,  the  cer- 
tainty that  once  existed  in  regard  to  the  supernatural  world 
has  faded  away;  no  means  of  investigating  it  that  com- 
mands confidence  has  been  devised,  and  any  idea  held  in 
regard  to  it  is  believed  to  be  void  of  truth  if  inconsistent 
with  the  conclusions  reached  by  science.  In  all  these 
respects  the  attitude  of  Isidore  and  his  time  is  exactly  op- 
posite to  ours.  To  him  the  supernatural  world  was  the 
demonstrable  and  ordered  one.  Its  phenomena,  or  what 
were  supposed  to  be  such,  were  accepted  as  valid,  while  no 
importance  was  attached  to  evidence  offered  by  the  senses 
as  to  the  material.  It  may  even  be  said  that  the  super- 
natural universe  bulked  far  larger  in  the  mind  of  the  medi- 
eval thinker  than  does  the  natural  in  that  of  the  modern, 

1 D.  N.  R.,  29,  2. 


68  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [68 

and  it  was  fortified  by  an  immeasurably  stronger  and  more 
uncritical  dogmatism. 

It  is  evident,  therefore,  that  if  we  compare  the  dogmatic 
world-view  of  the  medieval  thinker  with  the  more  tentative 
one  of  the  modern  scientist,  allowance  must  be  made  for 
the  fact  that  they  take  hold  of  the  universe  at  opposite  ends. 
Their  plans  are  so  fundamentally  different  that  it  is  hard  to 
express  the  meaning  of  one  in  terms  of  the  other. 

Isidore's  method  of  apprehending  the  supernatural  world 
can  hardly  be  called  mysticism.  With  mysticism  we  asso- 
ciate intuition  and  exalted  feeling,  and  the  examples  that 
have  been  given  of  Isidore's  thinking  in  terms  of  allegory 
and  number,  show  that  he  thought  of  the  supernatural  in 
the  same  prosaic  and  literal  way  as  he  did  of  the  natural ; 
there  was  no  break  for  him  between  them,  nor  was  there 
any  change  of  intellectual  atmosphere  when  he  crossed  the 
line.  So  the  higher  sense  at  least  of  the  term  *  mystic  ' 
must  be  denied  him.  His  share  in  the  mysticism  of  his 
age,  which  he  accepted  unquestioningly,  was  not  a  positive 
one;  he  exhibits  rather  the  negative  side  of  mysticism,  the 
intellectual  haziness,  slothfulness  and  self-delusion  by  which 
it  was  so  often  accompanied  in  medieval  times. 

Isidore  believed  that  in  point  of  time  the  supernatural 
preceded  the  natural.  He  says  that  God  "  created  all  things 
out  of  nothing  ",^  and,  again,  that  "  the  matter  from  which 
the  universe  was  formed  preceded  the  things  created  out 
of  it  not  in  time,  but  in  origin,  in  the  same  sense  as  sound 
precedes  music  ".^  It  is  evident  that  he  regarded  the  ma- 
terial as  an  emanation  from  the  spiritual.  With  such  an 
origin  the  material  world  was  naturally  subservient  to 
spiritual  control,  and  miracles  caused  little  wonder.     They 

*  De  Natura  Rerum,  14,  2. 
» Sent.,  I,  8,  6. 


6g]  ISIDORE'S  WORLD  VIEW  69 

"  are  not  contrary  to  nature,  because  they  are  caused  by  the 
divine  will,  and  the  will  of  the  Creator  is  the  nature  of  each 
created  thing.  ...  A  miracle,  therefore,  does  not  happen 
contrary  to  nature,  but  contrary  to  nature  as  known."  ^ 
The  supernatural  thus  not  only  preceded,  but  dominated, 
the  natural.  Finally,  the  universe  was  to  disappear  at  the 
end  of  six  ages,  and  all  was  to  be  reabsorbed  in  the  super- 
natural. The  world  of  nature,  then,  was  merely  a  passing 
incident  in  a  greater  reality  that  contained  it. 

As  in  the  universe  at  large,  so  in  man  the  supernatural 
completely  overshadows  the  natural.  The  soul  is  all-im- 
portant and  theory  in  regard  to  it  is  precise  and  dogmatic. 
"  As  to  the  soul,"  Isidore  says,  "  the  philosophers  of  this 
world  have  described  with  great  uncertainty  what  it  is, 
what  it  is  like,  where  it  is,  what  form  it  has,  and  what  its 
power  is.  Some  have  said  it  is  fire;  others,  blood;  others 
that  it  is  incorporeal  and  has  no  shape.  A  number  have 
believed  with  rash  impiety  that  it  is  a  part  of  the  divine 
nature.  But  we  say  that  it  is  not  fire  nor  blood,  but  that  it 
is  incorporeal,  capable  of  feeling  and  of  change;  without 
weight,  shape,  or  color.  And  we  say  that  the  soul  is  not  a 
part,  but  a  creature  of  God,  and  that  it  is  not  of  the  sub- 
stance of  God,  or  of  any  underlying  matter  of  the  elements, 
but  was  created  out  of  nothing."  ^  He  says  further,  that 
the  soul  "  has  a  beginning  but  cannot  have  an  end  ".^  All 
the  activities  by  which  life  is  manifested  are  considered  as 
parts  or  functions  of  the  soul.  Dum  contemplatur,  spiritus 
est ;  dum  sentit,  sensus  est ;  dum  sapit,  animus  est ;  dum  in- 
telligit,  mens  est;  dum  discernit,  ratio  est;  dum  consentit, 
voluntas  est ;  dum  recordatur,  memoria  est ;  et  dum  membra 
vegetat,  anima  est.* 

In  contrast  with  the  soul  the  body  scarcely  deserves  to  be 

^  Etytn.,  II,  3,  I  and  2.  ^  Diff.,  2,  icx). 

8  DifF.,  2,  92.  *  Diff.,  2,  97. 


yo  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [70 

Spoken  of  except  with  disparagement.  Its  goods  are  to 
be  unhesitatingly  sacrificed  to  those  of  the  supernatural  ele- 
ment in  man,  or  rather,  they  are  not  regarded  as  goods  at 
all.  "  It  is  advantageous,"  Isidore  says,  "  for  those  who 
are  well  and  strong  to  become  infirm,  lest  through  the  vigor 
of  their  health  they  be  defiled  by  illicit  passions  and  the  de- 
sire for  luxury  ".^  The  present  life  of  the  body  has  no 
value ;  it  is  brief  and  wretched.  "  Holy  men  desire  to  spurn 
the  world  and  devote  the  activity  of  their  minds  to  things 
above,  in  order  to  convey  themselves  back  to  the  place 
from  which  they  have  come,  and  withdraw  from  the  place 
into  which  they  have  been  cast."  ^  Thus  philosophy  of  the 
supernatural  culminated  in  asceticism. 

Isidore's  supernatural  world  has  its  inhabitants,  and  in 
dealing  with  these  he  has  a  theology,  an  angelology,  and  a 
demonology;  in  all  of  which  fields  his  ideas  are  more  pre- 
cise and  clear-cut  than  where  he  speaks  of  the  material 
world. 

His  theology  is  of  little  interest ;  it  consists  in  the  ortho- 
dox view  of  the  time,  accepted  without  a  shadow  of  criti- 
cism. He  says,  "  We  are  not  permitted  to  form  any  belief 
of  our  own  will,  or  to  choose  a  belief  that  someone  else  has 
accepted  of  his  own.  We  have  God's  apostles  as  authori- 
ties, who  did  not  themselves  choose  anything  of  what  they 
should  believe,  but  they  faithfully  transmitted  to  the  nations 
the  teaching  received  from  Christ.  And  so  even  if  an 
angel  from  heaven  shall  preach  otherwise,  let  him  be  ana- 
thema ".' 

The  minor  inhabitants  of  Isidore's  supernatural  world, 
the  angels  and  demons,  offer  a  more  practical  interest. 
They  represent  the  stage  of  development  at  which  the  old 
polytheism  of  the  Jews  had  adjusted  itself  to  monotheism, 

^  Sentent.,  3,  3,  5.  '  Sentent.,  3,  16,  5. 

» Etym.,  8,  3,  2-3. 


71  ]  ISIDORE'S  WORLD  VIEW  71 

but  had  by  no  means  faded  out  of  existence.  Indeed,  it  is 
plain  that  at  this  time  the  immediate  concern  of  the  ordi- 
nary man  was  with  these  spirits,  good  and  bad;  while  be- 
tween man  and  God  there  were,  for  the  most  part,  only 
mediate  relations. 

The  number  of  these  spirits  was  very  great;  each  place 
had  its  angel,  as  had  each  man, — and,  presumably,  a  demon 
as  well.  The  seraphim,  the  highest  order  in  the  hierarchy 
of  angels,  were  a  multitude  in  themselves.  We  may  sur- 
mise that  for  Isidore,  as  for  Jerome,  the  entire  human 
population  of  the  world  was  as  nothing  compared  with  the 
entire  population  of  spirits.^ 

The  good  angels  are  marshalled  in  a  hierarchy  of  nine 
orders,  to  which  they  were  assigned  in  order  of  merit  at 
the  beginning  of  the  world,  and  to  each  of  these  a  specified 
task  is  given.  For  example,  the  order  named  virtues  {vir- 
tutes)  has  charge  of  miracles ;  and  the  business  of  the  sera- 
phim is  "  to  veil  the  face  and  feet  of  God  ".^  The  nature 
of  the  angels  is  described  succinctly  in  a  paragraph  of  the 
Diiferentiae: 

Angels  are  of  spiritual  substance;  they  were  created  before  all 
creatures  and  made  subject  to  change  by  nature,  but  were  ren- 
dered changeless  by  the  contemplation  of  God.  They  are  not 
subject  to  passion,  they  possess  reason,  are  immortal,  perpetual 
in  blessedness,  with  no  anxiety  for  their  felicity,  and  with  fore- 
knowledge of  the  future.  They  govern  the  world  according 
to  command ;  they  take  bodies  from  the  upper  air ;  ^  they  dwell 
in  the  heavens.* 

^  Jerome,  In  Islam,  Lib.  xi,  ch.  40.  "  Ita  universa  gentium  multitude 
supernis  ministeriis  et  angelorum  multitudini  comparata  pro  nihilo 
ducitur."    Cf.  Etym.,  7,  5,  19. 

^Etym.,  7,  5,  24, 

'  For  appearance  to  man.  Cf.  Angeli  corpora  in  quibus  hominibus 
apparent,  de  superno  acre  sumunt     Sentent.,  i,  10,  19. 

^Diff,,  2,  41. 


y2  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [72 

The  special  virtue  of  the  good  angels  is  subjection  to  God. 
*'  There  is  no  greater  iniquity  for  them  than  to  wish  to 
glory  not  in  God  but  in  themselves  "/  The  gaps  in  their 
ranks  caused  by  the  fall  of  the  bad  angels  were  to  be  filled 
from  the  number  of  the  elect. ^ 

The  demons,  or  bad  angels,  were  created  along  with  the 
good;  indeed  the  devil,  their  leader,  was  first  created  of  all 
the  angels.  It  was  "  before  the  time  of  the  visible  uni- 
verse "  that  their  fall  took  place;  at  that  time  they  lost  ''  all 
the  good  of  their  natures  "  and  all  possibility  of  pardon.^ 
They  are  the  "  enemies  of  mankind  "  and  are  *'  sent  on  the 
service  of  vengeance  ".  The  only  restraint  on  their  malig- 
nity is  that  they  are  obliged  to  obey  God.  Isidore  sums  up 
their  activities  in  a  fear-inspiring  way  : 

They  unsettle  the  senses,  stir  low  passions,  disorder  life,  cause 
alarms  in  sleep,  bring  diseases,  fill  the  mind  with  terror,  dis- 
tort the  limbs,  control  the  way  in  which  lots  are  cast,  make  a 
pretence  at  oracles  by  their  tricks,  arouse  the  passion  of  love, 
create  the  heat  of  cupidity,  lurk  in  consecrated  images ;  when 
invoked  they  appear ;  they  tell  lies  that  resemble  the  truth ;  they 
take  on  different  forms,  and  sometimes  appear  in  the  likeness 
of  angels.* 

Their  capacity  for  evil  tasks  is  increased  by  their  superior 
intelligence,  which  retains  "  the  keen  perception  of  the  an- 
gelic creation  ".^  Their  power  of  foreknowledge,  and,  in 
addition,  the  duration  of  their  experience,  make  the  struggle 
against  them  a  hopeless  one  for  man.  They  are  also  in- 
credibly persistent :  "  The  devil  never  rests  from  his  attack 
on  the  just  man  ",  who  is  "  sometimes  reduced  to  straits 
of  despair  ".^ 

*  Sentent.,  i,  10,  16.  *  Sentent.,  i,  10,  13. 

•  De  Ord.  Great.,  8,  7-10.  *  Diff.,  2,  41. 

»  Sentent.,  i,  10,  17.  •  Sentent.,  3,  5,  35-36. 


73]  ISIDORE'S  WORLD  VIEW  73 

It  is  evident  that  these  demons  were  an  all-pervading 
factor  in  the  life  of  the  time.  They  were  conceived  of  as 
entering  the  mind,  both  waking  and  sleeping,  and  furnish- 
ing it  with  the  very  material  for  thought  and  action.  The 
Christian,  by  the  aid  of  the  good  angels,  was  alone  able  to 
defeat  them,  and,  moreover,  he  alone  realized  the  necessity 
of  combating  them.  The  pagans  of  the  pre-Christian  era, 
on  the  other  hand,  were  believed  to  have  been  willing  vic- 
tims. The  trail  of  demonic  influence  could  be  found  in 
every  department  of  their  life  and  thought,  especially  in 
their  religion,  which  was  very  close  to  demon  worship,  and 
in  their  philosophy  and  poetry.^ 

It  is  of  interest  to  notice  in  detail  Isidore's  scale  of  values 
for  secular  learning,  as  shown  in  opinions  expressed 
throughout  his  works.  How  did  the  fields  of  thought  that 
had  filled  the  horizon  of  the  thinker  of  classical  times,  ap- 
pear in  the  perspective  of  the  dark  ages? 

Philosophy,^  in  the  first  place,  no  longer  stands  for  any 
active  principle;  all  its  old  aspect  of  metaphysical  and 
ethical  inquiry  has  been  lost.  It  is  merely  a  container  in 
which  minor  subjects  are  arranged  in  a  comprehensive 
plan,  and  the  only  interest  which  it  presents,  as  philosophy, 
is  to  be  found  in  the  question  of  what  minor  subjects  are 
included  and  how  they  are  grouped.  Here  Isidore  is  more 
inconsistent  than  usual.  He  gives  three  plans  of  the  field 
of  knowledge,  all  substantially  differing  from  one  another 
in  details  and  all  strikingly  different  from  his  own  mar- 
shaling of  all  knowledge  in  the  Etymologies.  The  only  re- 
flection of  value  suggested  by  the  treatment  of  philosophy 
in  Isidore's  works  is  that  in  being  de-secularized   it  has 

1  See  pp.  199-206. 

-  Four  definitions  are  given,  2,  24,  3  and  9.  Cf.  8,  6,  i ;  Diif.,  2,  149. 
See  pp.  116-119.  For  the  marshaling  of  the  minor  subjects  under  phil- 
osophy see  Appendix  II. 


74  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [74 

completely  lost  its  essential  content.  It  can,  therefore,  no 
longer  be  a  source  of  offence  to  any  Christian. 

The  pagan  philosophy,  however,  was  a  different  thing. 
It  was  known  to  have  been  concerned  with  the  same  prob- 
lems as  was  Christian  theology.  It  had  thus  a  certain  right 
to  exist  and  a  certain  value,  but  this  terminated  with  the 
appearance  of  Christianity.  As  Isidore  puts  it,  "  the  phil- 
osophers of  this  world  certainly  knew  God,  but  the  humility 
of  Christ  displeased  them  and  they  went  astray  " ;  "  they 
fell  in  with  wicked  angels  and  the  devil  became  their  medi- 
ator for  death  as  Christ  became  ours  for  life  ".^  After 
Christian  theology  had  settled  beyond  the  shadow  of  1 
doubt  the  problems  that  had  occupied  the  pagan  philoso- 
phers, these  latter  could  cause  only  trouble.  Pagan  phil- 
osophy now  stood  only  for  a  perversion  of  the  wisdom 
which  was  found  in  its  true  form  in  the  books  of  the 
Scriptural  canon  and  the  works  of  the  church  Fathers.  Its 
"  errors  "  were  believed  to  be  the  source  of  the  heresies  in 
the  church.  "  The  same  material  is  used  and  the  same 
errors  are  embraced  over  and  over  again  by  philosophers 
and  heretics  ".^ 

Isidore's  idea  of  the  function  of  poetry  is  a  peculiar  one. 
"  It  is  the  business  of  the  poet,"  he  says,  "  to  take  veritable 
occurrences  and  gracefully  change  and  transform  them  to 
other  appearances  by  a  figurative  and  indirect  mode  of 
speech  ".^    From  this  it  might  be  inferred  that  he  thought 

^  Sentent.,  i,  17,  1-4. 

'  Etym.,  8,  6,  23,  In  books  VII  and  VIII  of  the  Etymologies,  where 
the  subjects  taken  up  appear  to  be  treated  in  the  order  of  merit,  the 
place  of  the  pagan  philosophers  in  the  list  is  an  instructive  one.  The 
list  is  as  follows :  God,  the  persons  of  the  Trinity,  angels,  patriarchs, 
prophets  and  martyrs,  the  clergy,  the  faithful,  heretics,  pagan  philoso- 
phers, poets,  sibyls,  magi,  the  heathen,  and  heathen  gods,  who  are  the 
equivalent  of  demons.     See  p.  196,  note. 

'  8.  7.  10. 


75]  ISIDORE'S  WORLD  VIEW  75 

that  the  use  of  poetry  was  to  furnish  material  for  alle- 
gorical interpretation.  He  ranks  the  poets  of  pagan  an- 
tiquity below  the  philosophers,  and  brings  serious  charges 
against  them.  He  asserts  that  they  have  "  disregarded  the 
proper  meanings  of  words  under  the  compulsion  of  metre  " 
and  have  thus  been  guilty  of  introducing  a  great  amount 
of  confusion  into  thought  and  language.^  His  most  vigor- 
ous indictment  of  pagan  poetry,  however,  is  that  it  had  its 
origin  in  the  pagan  religions,  which  he  identifies  with 
demon  worship.  He  quotes  Suetonius  to  establish  this 
point :  "  When  men  .  .  .  first  began  to  know  themselves 
and  their  gods,  they  used  for  themselves  a  modest  way  of 
living  and  only  necessary  words,  while  for  the  worship  of 
their  gods  they  devised  magnificence  in  each  ".  This  "mag- 
nificence "of  speech  is  alleged  to  have  been  poetry.^  With 
such  opinions,  he  naturally  desired  the  ostracism  of  poetry. 
"  The  Christian  is  forbidden  to  read  their  lies."  ^ 

Toward  pagan  philosophy  and  poetry,  then,  Isidore's 
attitude  is  hostile,  and  it  is  very  improbable  that  he  ever 
wasted  any  time  on  them.  But  in  the  field  of  secular  knowl- 
edge apart  from  these  subjects  he  has,  within  limits,  a  use 
for  the  inheritance  left  by  pagan  Rome.  It  is  his  chief 
claim  to  recognition  that  he  was  not  absolutely  content  with 
the  de-secularized  science  that  he  found  in  Ambrose, 
Jerome  and  Augustine,  but  had  the  independence  to  go 
behind  it  and  draw  upon  its  original  sources  in  Roman 
literature.  The  spirit  in  which  he  did  this,  however,  was 
not  the  spirit  of  revolt,  but  apparently  only  a  natural  desire 
for  more  extended  information.     His  critical  faculty  did 

1  See  p.  26.  2  8,  7,  I. 

^  Sentent.,  3,  13,  i.  It  seems  extremely  probable  that  Isidore  did 
not  quote  from  the  poets  directly  but  merely  appropriated  along  with 
other  material  the  quotations  contained  in  the  sources  which  he  con- 
sulted. 


76  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [75 

not  warn  him  that  in  seeking  this  information  from  pagan 
sources  he  was  passing  from  one  intellectual  atmosphere  to 
another;  his  mind  was  too  literal  and  plodding  and  dwelt 
too  much  on  details  to  notice  when  it  was  on  dangerous 
ground.  His  resort  to  pagan  science  was  not  always  happy 
in  its  result;  but  the  many  blunders  which  he  made  cannot 
affect  the  merit  of  his  enterprise  in  going  beyond  the  circle 
of  Christian  writers;  and  it  must  be  said  for  his  version  of 
secular  knowledge,  as  contained  in  his  secular  writings, 
that,  poor  as  it  was,  it  was  one  without  which  the  middle 
ages  would  have  been  a  great  deal  poorer. 

As  a  matter  of  fact,  Isidore  did  not  leave  the  science  of 
the  Roman  Empire  in  a  state  much  worse  than  that  in 
which  he  found  it.  It  had  been  undergoing  a  process  of 
decay  for  centuries.  At  their  best  the  Roman  men  of  sci- 
ence had  been  unable  even  to  appropriate  the  more  abstract 
parts  of  Greek  science.  They  were  governed  throughout 
by  a  short-sighted  practicality,  as  when,  for  instance,  in  the 
case  of  the  mathematical  sciences  they  tried  to  take  over 
results  without  taking  the  method  of  reaching  or  verifying 
them.  In  the  natural  sciences  their  inferiority  was  only 
less  marked.  Here  the  absence  of  critical  method  permitted 
the  incorporation  of  many  superstitious  notions.  As  has 
been  pointed  out,  the  Roman  science  was  wholly  a  science 
of  authority,  and  the  greatest  scientist  was  tke-  the  greatest 
accumulator  of  previous  authorities.  Thus  throughout  its 
course  in  the  Roman  world  science  had  been  beating  a  re- 
treat. By  Isidore's  time  these  forces  of  short-sighted  utili- 
tarianism, the  spirit  of  subservience  to  authority,  and  super- 
stition, had  brought  it  to  a  state  of  inoffensive  feebleness 
such  that  it  was  more  welcome  to  the  Christian  than  was 
either  poetry  or  philosophy. 

This  Roman  pseudo-science  could  not,  however,  hold  an 
important  place  in  the  thinking  of  the  time:  the  funda- 


77]  ISI^RE'S  WORLD  VIEW  77 

mental  conceptions  that  prevailed  forbade  it.  The  ma- 
terial world  held  a  low  place,  as  we  have  seen;  on  every 
side  evidence  can  be  found  of  an  ascending  scale  of  values 
from  the  material  through  the  moral  to  the  spiritual.  Upon 
this  idea  is  founded  "  the  triple  method  of  interpretation  "  ^ 
used  in  the  Scriptures  and  elsewhere,  and  with  it  is  con- 
nected the  triple  division  of  knowledge  into  natural  sci- 
ence, ethics,  and  theology.  There  was  not  only  an  ascend- 
ing scale  of  value  for  the  different  sorts  of  knowledge,  but 
an  ascending  scale  of  validity.  Spiritual  truth  and  moral 
truth  transcended  the  truth  of  material  facts,  whose  stub- 
bornness had  been  forgotten  and  had  not  yet  been  re-dis- 
covered. Yet,  with  all  this  depreciation  of  the  material, 
it  in  some  measure  reasserted  itself :  as  the  literal  meaning 
had  to  be  grasped  in  the  Scriptures  before  the  higher  mean- 
ing could  be  educed,  so  the  material  world  had  to  be  recog- 
nized before  its  higher  meaning  could  be  ascertained.  This 
was  the  basis  for  science  in  the  philosophy  of  the  dark  ages. 
In  this  way  Isidore's  pseudo-science  was  brought  into 
harmony  with  religion.  Natural  science  was,  indeed,  con- 
cerned with  the  lowest  and  faintest  form  of  reality,  namely, 
the  material  world ;  but  even  material  things  had  their  spir- 
itual implications,  and  because  of  this  were  worthy  of  an 
orderly  survey.  The  De  Natura  Rerum,  in  which  each 
term  is  explained  first  as  it  relates  to  the  natural  world  and 
then  as  to  its  higher  meaning,  shows  how  science  played  the 
subordinate  part  just  indicated.  It  is  of  great  interest  at 
this  point  to  notice  that  Isidore's  successor,  Rabanus 
Maurus,  in  his  comprehensive  encyclopedia  De  Universo, 
which  follows  Isidore's  Etymologies  closely,  adds,  how- 

1"  Illud  trimodum  intelligentiae  genus,"  Diif.,  2,  154.  Cf.  "  Tripli- 
citer  autem  scribitur,  dum  non  solum  historialiter  vel  mystice  sed 
etiam  moraliter  quid  in  unum  quodque  gerere  debeat  edocetur."  Contra 
Judaeos,  2,  20.  See  also  De  Ord.  Great.,  10,  4-7  and  Etym.,  6,  i,  11 
(p.  186). 


y^  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [^g 

ever,  the  higher  meanings  which  Isidore  had  left  out  in  his 
work.^  It  is  the  importance  of  natural  science  from  this 
point  of  view  that  Isidore  has  in  mind  in  a  passage  in  the 
Sententiae:  "  It  does  no  harm  to  anyone  if,  because  of  sim- 
plicity, he  has  an  inadequate  idea  of  the  elements,  provided 
only  he  speaks  the  truth  of  God.  For  even  though  one  may 
not  be  able  to  discuss  the  incorporeal  and  the  corporeal  na- 
tures, an  upright  life  with  faith  makes  him  blessed."  ^ 

He  is  far,  however,  from  expressing  complete  approval 
of  pagan  science ;  the  perversity  of  the  pagan  scientists  for- 
bids this.  "  The  philosophers  of  the  world  are  highly 
praised  for  the  measuring  of  time,  and  the  tracing  of  the 
course  of  the  stars,  and  the  analysis  of  the  elements.  Still, 
they  had  this  only  from  God.  Flying  proudly  through  the 
air  like  birds,  and  plunging  into  the  deep  sea  like  fishes, 
and  walking  like  dumb  animals,  they  gained  knowledge  of 
the  earth,  but  they  would  not  seek  with  all  their  minds  to 
know  their  Maker  ".* 

In  judging  the  quality  of  Isidore's  science  as  science,  we 
must  remember  that  he  is  separated  from  Pliny,  his  great 
predecessor  in  the  encyclopedic  field,  by  nearly  six  cen- 
turies, and  that  those  six  centuries  form  a  period  of  con- 
tinuous intellectual  decline;  and,  further,  we  must  bear  in 
mind  the  fact  that  Pliny  himself  sometimes  copied  what  he 

*  De  Universo  is  published  in  Migne,  Pair.  Lat.,  3.  In  the  preface 
Rabanus  says :  "  Much  is  set  forth  in  this  work  concerning  the  natures 
of  things  and  the  meanings  of  words  and  also  as  to  the  mystical  sig- 
nification of  things.  Accordingly  I  have  arranged  my  matter  so  that 
the  reader  may  find  the  historical  and  mystical  explanations  of  each 
thing  set  together  (continuatim  positani)  ;  and  so  may  be  able  to 
satisfy  his  desire  to  know  both  significations."  Isidore's  Etymologies 
is  said  to  have  been  left  unfinished  (quamvis  imperfectum  ipse  reli- 
querit.  Braulio's  Introduction.  See  p.  25).  The  conjecture  may  be 
offered  that  the  finishing  of  the  work  might  have  meant  chiefly  the 
insertion  of  "the  higher  meaning". 

'  Sentent.,  2,  i,  14.  '  Sentent.,  i,  17,  2. 


79]  ISIDORE'S  WORLD  VIEW  yg 

did  not  understand,  and  was  so  little  of  a  scientist  as  even 
to  welcome  the  marvelous.^  After  this,  what  can  be  ex- 
pected from  Isidore?  That  he  wrote  what  he  did  write, 
at  the  time  he  did,  is  in  itself  the  astonishing  fact.  His 
work  is  the  only  symptom  of  intellectual  life  in  two  cen- 
turies of  Western  European  history. 

Isidore's  view  of  the  past  was  as  simple  and  dogmatic 
as  his  view  of  the  universe  at  large;  in  fact  it  was  condi- 
tioned by  his  world-view.  The  acceptance  of  Christianity 
and  the  new  scale  of  values  thus  introduced  had  of  neces- 
sity involved  the  projection  of  the  new  interests  into  the 
past.  The  legendary  background  of  the  new  religion  had 
accelerated  the  process.  The  past,  as  seen  by  writers  of 
the  pagan  civilization  and  as  reflecting  the  interests  of  that 
civilization,  now  became  of  no  service,  and,  as  a  whole,  was 
dropped.  The  pagan  histories  were  regarded  as  written  by 
men  whose  point  of  view  was  wholly  false  and  mischievous, 
even  though  sometimes  their  facts  might  be  correct.  They 
were  approached  by  the  Christian  re-adjusters  of  history 
in  much  the  same  spirit  as  that  in  which  the  modern  his- 
torian goes  to  the  medieval  chronicle,  though  with  an  oppo- 
site aim:  the  modern  historian  is  after  what  is  social  and 
human,  while  Augustine  and  Orosius  were  after  illustra- 
tions of  the  ways  of  God  to  man.^ 

By  Isidore's  time,  then,  the  Christian  view  of  the  past 
had  become  completely  desecularized.  Biblical  tradition 
dominated  all  historical  thinking.  On  the  six  days  of  crea- 
tion was  centered  special  attention.  This  point,  at  which 
the  natural  emanated  from  the  supernatural,  fascinated  the 
medieval  thinker  as  the  doctrine  of  evolution  does  the  mod- 

*  Cuvier,  Histoire  des  Sciences  Naturelles,  vol.  i,  pp.  260-280. 
'  Cf.  Isidore's  attitude :  "  The  histories  of  the  gentiles  do  no  harm 
where  they  tell  of  what  is  profitable,"  i,  41,  i.     See  p.  103. 


8b  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [go 

ern.  It  formed  the  touch-stone  by  the  aid  of  which  was 
interpreted  not  only  the  material  world/  but  also  the  course 
of  history.  In  parallelism  with  the  six  days  and  the  six 
periods  in  man's  life,  the  history  of  the  world  was  divided 
with  absolute  definiteness  into  six  ages.  Isidore  himself 
was  living  in  the  sixth  and  last  of  these,  "  the  residue  of 
which  was  known  to  God  alone  ".^  His  view  of  the  past 
had  no  perspective;  or  rather,  it  had  an  inverted  per- 
spective, because  the  increasing  confusion  of  every  depart- 
ment of  the  sublunar  world  led  him  to  dwell  in  preference 
upon  the  earlier  time  when  the  course  of  history  was  con- 
fined to  the  pure  stream  of  Hebrew  tradition,  when  the 
supernatural  manifested  itself  more  frequently,  and  when 
even  the  names  of  personages  were  charged  with  prophetic 
meaning. 

In  this  inverted  perspective  the  history  of  the  Hebrews 
naturally  formed  a  prominent  part.  The  Hebrew  people  of 
antiquity  and  their  language,  which  is  traced  back  to  Adam, 
were  the  original  race  and  language.  It  was  only  '*  at  the 
building  of  the  tower  after  the  flood  that  the  diversity  of 
languages  arose  ".  On  this  occasion  not  only  did  the  dif- 
ferent languages  of  later  history  appear,  but  at  t;he  same 
time  and  as  a  result,  the  different  races  of  mankind  were 
constituted.^  All  languages,  then,  and  all  races,  are  var- 
iants of  the  Hebrew  type.  Isidore  believed  that  even  in  his 
time  some  of  the  nations  could  be  traced  back  and  identified 
with  the  original  Hebrew  stock  by  etymologizing  on  their 
names.  Others,  however,  had  cast  aside  their  old  names 
and  taken  others,  "  either  from  kings  or  countries  or  cus- 
toms or  other  causes  ",  and  the  genealogy  of  these  he  be- 
lieved to  be  irretrievably  lost.* 

1  See  p.  28  and  note.  '  S,  38,  5 ;  5»  jv- 

9,  I,  I.  *  Q.  2,  132. 


CHAPTER  IV 
Isidore's  Relation  to  Education 

The  question  of  perpetuating  the  pagan  range  of  edu- 
cational subjects  presented  a  great  difficulty  to  the  leaders 
of  patristic  and  early  medieval  thought,  so  great  a  diffi- 
culty that  some  of  them  were  almost  more  ready  to  dis- 
card education  than  to  try  to  separate  it  from  its  heathen 
entanglements.  In  both  the  Greek  and  Roman  worlds 
formal  education  had  been  late  in  developing;  as  a  conse- 
quence its  tone  was  wholly  secular.  Its  object  was  to  put 
the  youth  of  the  ruling  classes  in  touch  with  the  culture  and 
life  of  the  time.  The  subjects  found  most  serviceable  for 
study  were  literature,  rhetoric,  and  philosophy.  The  sci- 
ences known  to  the  ancients  gradually  gained  a  foot-hold 
also,  and  instruction  began  to  be  given  in  a  number  of 
them,  including  geometry,  music,  arithmetic,  astronomy, 
medicine,  and  architecture.  Finally,  the  subject-matter  of 
education  settled  down  to  the  stereotyped  list  of  seven  sub- 
jects, known  as  ''  the  seven  liberal  arts  ",  from  which  there 
was  apparently  little  deviation  in  later  Roman  and  medi- 
eval times. ^    This  formal  education  of  the  Romans  was  so 

^  The  basis  on  which  the  canon  of  the  seven  liberal  arts  was  formed 
is  indicated  by  a  passage  in  Martianus  Capella,  who  makes  Apollo  say- 
in  regard  to  the  exclusion  of  medicine  and  architecture  from  it  that 
"  their  attention  and  skill  is  given  to  mortal  and  earthly  things,  and 
they  have  nothing  in  common  with  the  ether  and  the  gods;  it  is  not 
unseemly  to  reject  them  with  loathing."  (Ed.  Eyssenhardt,  IV,  13). 
The  Christian  Isidore  held  much  the  same  notion  as  the  pagan  Capella. 
He  believed  that  the  order  of  the  seven  liberal  arts  terminating  in 
astronomy  was  one  whose  object  was  "to  free  souls  entangled  by 
81]  81 


82  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [82 

well  established  and  enjoyed  such  prestige  that  in  spite  of 
Christian  hostility  it  continued  to  flourish  until  the  in- 
creasing disorganization  of  society  in  the  fifth  and  sixth 
centuries  made  the  continuance  of  secular  schools  impos- 
sible. 

Upon  their  disappearance  the  whole  burden  of  main- 
taining education  fell  upon  the  church.  In  the  church  or- 
ganization the  effective  bodies  for  such  an  activity  were  the 
groups  of  clergy  attached  to  cathedrals  and  to  monasteries. 
There  was  no  system  established  by  a  central  authority  and 
enforced  by  public  opinion  to  guide  the  efforts  made  by 
these  bodies,  and  it  is  plain  that  in  each  case  educational 
facilities  for  the  training  of  priests  would  be  provided  in 
accordance  with  the  intelligence  and  character  of  the  dif- 
ferent bishops  and  abbots.  Where  the  ecclesiastical  au- 
thorities were  ignorant  or  careless,  the  training  of  the 
priest  or  monk  must  have  degenerated  to  a  sort  of  appren- 
ticeship. The  evidence  which  we  possess  of  the  illiteracy  ^ 
of  the  clergy  would  lead  us  to  infer  that  in  the  dark  ages 
education,  in  any  sense  worthy  of  the  name,  was  sporadic, 
the  product  of  the  happy  coincidence  of  opportunity  and 
an  ecclesiastic  intelligent  enough  to  realize  it.^ 

The  first  comprehensive  effort  *  to  deal  with  the  educa- 

secular  wisdom  from  earthly  matters  and  set  them  at  meditation  upon 
the  things  on  high"  (3,  71,  41).  See  also  pp.  65,  77.  It  is  plain 
enough  that  education  in  both  the  pagan  and  Christian  spheres  was 
strongly  affected  by  the  mystical  tendency  of  the  time,  and  it  is  not 
too  much  to  say  that  the  seven  liberal  arts  stand  not  so  much  for  the 
impracticality  of  a  "gentleman's"  education  as  for  that  desirable 
in  the  education  of  a  mystic. 
^Cf.  Canal,  San  Isidore  (Sevilla,  1897),  p.  23. 

*  Cf.  Roger,  L'Enseignment  des  lettres  classiques  d*Ausone  a  Alcuin 
(Paris,  1905),  PP-  126-129. 

•  Of   Augustine's   treatises   on   grammar,    dialectic,    rhetoric,    geom- 
etry, arithmetic,  and  music,  all  but  that  on  music  were  lost  within  a 


83]  ISIDORE'S  RELATION  TO  EDUCATION  83 

tional  situation  from  the  Christian  standpoint  was  made 
by  Cassiodorus  and  was  designed  expressly  to  meet  the 
needs  of  the  inmates  of  a  monastery  in  Southern  Italy. 
Naturally  he  put  forth  his  main  endeavor  on  the  side  of 
what  may  be  called  theology,  but,  in  addition,  he  felt  im- 
pelled to  give  very  brief  and  vague  accounts  of  the  seven 
liberal  arts,  which  he  was  reluctantly  forced  to  consider  a; 
an  indispensable  preparation  for  the  former  study/ 

Cassiodorus'  attitude  toward  these  preliminary  studies 
is  a  curious  one.  He  believed  that  their  subject-matter  was 
to  be  found  scattered  through  the  Scriptures  and  that  "  the 
teachers  of  secular  learning  "  had  gathered  together  the 
disjointed  bits  of  information  and  organized  them  into  the 
seven  liberal  arts.  As  a  consequence  he  thought  that  a 
knowledge  of  these  arts  was  of  assistance  when  any  passage 
relating  to  them  was  met  in  the  reading  of  the  Scriptures. 
In  spite  of  this,  however,  it  seems  to  have  been  his  opinion 
that  the  less  use  made  of  them  the  better,  and  that,  if 
ignorance  of  the  liberal  arts  was  a  fault,  it  was  certainly 
one  of  a  minor  character  and  had  the  advantage  of  not  en- 
dangering the  Christian's   faith. ^     With  Cassiodorus  the 

very  short  time.  They  could  have  had  but  little  influence.  Cf. 
Retract,  1,  c.  6,  and  Teuffel  and  Schwabe,  History  of  Roman  Litera- 
ture, Sect.  440,  7. 

*  M.  Aurelii  Cassiodori  De  Institutione  Divinarum  Litterarum  and 
De  Artibus  ac  Disciplinis  Liberalium  Litterarum.  In  Migne,  P,  L., 
vol.  70. 

'  Cassiodorus,  De  Institutione  Divinarum  Litterarum,  Migne,  P.  L., 
70,  1 108  and  1 141.  In  the  former  of  these  passages  Cassiodorus  dis- 
cusses also  the  question  whether  there  should  be  absolute  reliance  on 
divine  aid  in  the  interpretation  of  the  Scriptures — in  which  connec- 
tion he  cites  miraculous  interpretations  by  illiterate  persons — or 
"  whether  it  is  better  to  continue  in  the  use  of  the  ordinary  learning." 
He  decides  on  the  whole  for  the  latter  course.  The  fact  that  Cassio- 
dorus wrote  an  account  of  the  seven  liberal  arts  shows  perhaps  that 
he  was  more  benighted  in  his  theory  than  in  his  practice.  Gregory 
the   Great,  however,  was  more  consistent   and   thorough-going.     He 


84  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [84 

problem  of  education  was  little  more  than  that  of  securing 
a  training  sufficient  to  enable  one  to  read  and  study  the 
Scriptures.  The  speculation  cannot  be  avoided  as  to 
whether,  if  Christianity  had  depended,  like  Druidism,  on 
an  oral  tradition,  Cassiodorus  might  not  have  been  willing 
to  dispense  with  education  altogether. 

Isidore  is  the  second  writer  to  deal  comprehensively  with 
the  subject-matter  of  Christian  education.  Before  giving 
an  account,  however,  of  the  way  in  which  he  met  the  prob- 
lems that  were  presented  to  him,  it  is  necessary  to  glance 
at  the  educational  situation  as  it  then  existed  in  Spain.  It 
appears  from  the  enactments  of  the  councils  of  Toledo  in 
the  sixth  and  seventh  centuries  that  the  clergy  as  a  body 
were  beginning  to  be  concerned  for  the  education  of  their 
order. ^  An  article  of  the  council  of  531  directs  that  as 
soon  as  children  destined  for  the  secular  clergy  are  placed 
under  the  control  of  the  bishop,  "  they  ought  to  be  edu- 
cated in  the  house  of  the  church  under  the  direction  of  the 
bishop  by  a  master  appointed  for  the  purpose  ".^  Another 
article  ^  says  that  "  those  who  receive  such  an  education  '* 

stands  as  the  typical  example  of  extreme  illiberality  in  the  history  of 
European  education.  His  position  is  shown  in  the  notorious  letter 
addressed  to  the  Bishop  of  Vienne :  "  A  report  has  reached  us  which 
we  cannot  mention  without  a  blush,  that  thou  expoundest  grammar  to 
certain  friends;  whereat  we  are  so  offended  and  filled  with  scorn 
that  our  former  opinion  of  thee  is  turned  to  mourning  and  sorrow. 
.  .  .  If  hereafter  it  be  clearly  established  that  the  rumor  which  we 
have  heard  is  false  and  that  thou  art  not  applying  thyself  to  the  idle 
vanities  of  secular  learning  (nugis  et  secularibus  litteris),  we  shall 
render  thanks  to  our  God."  Gregory  the  Great,  Ep.  ix.  54.  The 
translation  is  that  given  in  R.  Lane-Poole,  Medieval  Thought. 

*  The  second  council  of  Toledo  (531)  devoted  especial  attention  to 
the  subject  of  preparation  for  the  priesthood.  See  Mansi,  Sacrorum 
Conciliorum  Collectio  (Florence,  1764),  vol.  8  {Concilium  Toletanum 
11). 

'  Mansi,  vol.  8,  p.  785. 

»  Cap.  2. 


85]  ISIDORE'S  RELATION  TO  EDUCATION  85 

should  not  presume  to  leave  their  own  church  and  go  to 
another  "  since  it  is  not  fair  that  a  bishop  should  receive 
or  claim  a  pupil  whom  another  bishop  has  freed  from 
boorish  stupidity  and  the  untrained  state  of  infancy  ".  It 
is  further  directed  that  those  who  were  "  ignorant  of  let- 
ters "  should  not  become  priests.  An  article  of  the  fourth 
council  of  Toledo  in  633,  at  which  Isidore  probably  pre- 
sided, orders  that  "  whoever  among  the  clergy  are  youths 
should  remain  in  one  room  of  the  atrium,  in  order  that  they 
may  spend  the  years  of  the  lustful  period  of  their  lives  not 
in  indulgence  but  in  the  discipline  of  the  church,  being  put 
in  charge  of  an  older  man  of  the  highest  character  as 
master  of  their  instruction  and  witness  of  their  life  "/ 
These  passages  all  refer  to  cathedral  schools,  but  there  is 
evidence  equally  good  of  the  existence  of  similar  schools 
in  the  monasteries.^  Such,  then,  were  the  practical  condi- 
tions, as  far  as  known,  which  determined  the  educational 
activity  of  Isidore's  time. 

The  spirit  in  which  Isidore  approached  the  task  of  fur- 
nishing a  comprehensive  treatment  of  the  secular  subject- 
matter  of  education  was  the  one  proper  to  his  age.  He 
held  that  its  place  was  a  subordinate  one.  He  seems  to  be 
expressing  his  own  and  not  a  borrowed  view  when  he  says 
that  "  grammarians  are  better  than  heretics,  for  heretics 
persuade  men  to  drink  a  deadly  draught,  while  the  learn- 
ing of  grammarians  can  avail  for  life,  if  only  it  is  turned  to 
better  uses  ".^  The  same  depreciation  of  the  independent 
value  of  secular  studies  is  reflected  in  his  statement  that 
the  order  of  the  seven  liberal  arts  in  the  curriculum  was, 
one  intended  to  secure  a  progressive  liberation  of  the  mind 
from  earthly  matters  and  ''  to  set  it  at  the  task  of  contem- 

*  Mansi,  vol.  10,  p.  626  {Concilium  Toletanum,  IV,  Cap.  24). 
2  Isidore's  Regula  Monachorum,  20,  5.  ^  See  p.  30. 


86  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [86 

plating  things  on  high".'  He  evidently  believed  that  it 
was  the  function  of  the  seven  liberal  arts  to  raise  the  mind 
from  a  lower  or  material  to  a  higher  or  spiritual  plane  of 
thought.' 

In  the  Etymologies,  as  has  been  noticed,  Isidore  has  com- 
bined the  encyclopedia  of  education,  as  exemplified  in  the 
works  of  Martianus  Capella  and  Cassiodorus,  and  the  en- 
cyclopedia of  the  whole  range  of  knowledge,  of  which  the 
works  of  Varro,  Pliny,  and  Suetonius  are  leading  ex- 
amples. The  first  three  of  the  twenty  books  which  are  com- 
prised in  the  Etymologies  are  evidently  educational  texts; 
the  last  twelve  as  evidently  belong  to  the  encyclopedia  of 
all  knowledge.®  The  question  is  in  which  of  these  divisions 
the  intervening  books  should  be  classed.  If  we  look  to 
Isidore's  predecessors  for  guidance  on  this  point,  we  find 
that  Capella  gives  only  the  seven  liberal  arts,  while  Cassio- 
dorus gives  not  only  a  comprehensive  account  of  prepara- 
tory studies  in  the  form  of  the  seven  liberal  arts,  but  adds 
-in  his  De  Institutione  Divinarum  Litterariim  a  treatment 
of  the  higher,  or  religious,  education  of  the  monk.  The 
supposition  that  Isidore  followed  the  example  of  Cassio- 
dorus is  the  more  natural  one.    Their  educational  purpose 

^  Etym.,  3,  71,  41. 

'  To  this  conception  of  the  time,  that  the  secular  side  of  education 
was  a  necessary  evil,  of  which  a  minimum  use  must  be  made,  the 
school  disciplines  had  in  reality  been  adapting  themselves  for  cen- 
turies by  their  growing  formalism  and  loss  of  content.  Among  the 
seven  liberal  arts  rhetoric  is  the  best  example  of  the  former  charac- 
teristic. It  was  so  purely  conventional  a  discipline  in  Isidore's  time 
that,  even  though  he  wrote  of  it,  he  confesses  that  it  made  no  im- 
pression on  him,  either  good  or  bad.  "  When  it  is  laid  aside,"  he  says, 
"  all  recollection  vanishes."  The  loss  of  content,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  best  seen  in  Isidore's  account  of  the  four  mathematical  sciences, 
especially  in  that  of  geometry,  which  consists  of  nothing  more  than  a 
few  definitions. 

1  See  p.  31  for  outline  of  contents. 


ISIDORE'S  RELATION  TO  EDUCATION  %y 

was  much  the  same:  Cassiodorus  had  in  mind  the  train- 
ing of  the  monk,  while  Isidore  was  concerned  with  the 
education  of  the  priest.  It  is,  all  things  considered,  more 
natural  to  suppose  that  Isidore  is  giving  in  Books  I-VIII 
of  his  Etymologies  a  comprehensive  survey  of  the  educa- 
tion of  the  secular  clergy,  than  to  suppose  that  his  educa- 
tional texts  stopped  short  at  the  end  of  the  seven  liberal 
arts. 

If  this  supposition  is  correct,  the  outline  of  this  survey 
is  as  follows:  Grammar  (Bk.  I),  Rhetoric  and  Dialectic 
(Bk.  II),  Arithmetic,  Geometry,  Music,  Astronomy  (Bk. 
Ill),  Medicine  (Bk.  IV),  Laws  and  Times  (Bk.  V),  the 
books  and  services  of  the  church  (Bk.  VI),  God,  the  angels, 
and  the  orders  of  the  faithful  (Bk.  VII),  the  church  and 
the  different  sects  (Bk.  VIII).  The  inclusion  of  medicine, 
law,  and  chronology,  which  were  not  in  the  corresponding 
plan  of  Cassiodorus,^  meant  merely  an  enlargement  of  his 
scheme  to  fit  it  for  the  slightly  different  purpose  which 
Isidore  had  in  mind.  The  reason  for  the  inclusion  of  these 
subjects  is  the  practical  one:  in  the  absence  of  any  other 
educated  class  priests  were  obliged  to  have  some  '  slight . 
knowledge  of  medicine  and  law,  while  the  intricacy  of  the 
church  calendar  of  the  time  made  chronology  a  profes- 
sional necessity. 

At  first  sight  this  plan  of  educational  subjects  would 
seem  to  be  at  variance  with  our  accepted  idea  that  the  seven 
liberal  arts  covered  the  whole  field  of  preparatory  train- 
ing. A  closer  examination  shows,  however,  that  in  form 
at  least  Isidore  kept  them  in  a  class  by  themselves;  and 

^  However,  Cassiodorus  had  in  the  De  Institutione  Divinarutn  Litter- 
arum  a  chapter  entitled  "  On  monks  having  the  care  of  the  infirm ". 
In  this  he  urged  upon  them  the  reading  of  a  number  of  medical  works 
(those  of  Dioscorides,  Hippocrates,  Galen,  Caelius  Aurelianus,  and 
"various  others".    Migne,  P.  L.,  70,  1146). 


88  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [§8 

when  he  passes  from  them  to  medicine  he  is  careful  to 
specify  that  it  is  not  one  of  the  liberal  arts,  but  forms  a 
"  second  philosophy  ".^  By  this  he  means  that  medicine — 
and  the  same  may  be  assumed  for  laws  and  times — is 
placed  in  the  higher  and  not  the  preparatory  stage  of  educa- 
tion, and  that  in  this  sphere  it  plays  a  minor  part. 

If,  then,  this  view  of  the  subject-matter  of  the  first  eight 
books  of  the  Etymologies  is  correct,  it  will  be  admitted  that 
in  Isidore's  organization  of  education  a  significant  step  has 
been  taken.  In  the  education  of  the  Greek  and  Roman 
world  there  was  nothing  to  parallel  the  medieval  and  mod- 
ern university  development,  which  has  been  characterized 
until  recently  by  the  three  professional  schools  of  law, 
medicine,  and  theology.  In  Isidore's  plan  we  have,  for  the 
first  time,  as  professional  studies,  first,  what  corresponds 
to  the  later  theology,  and,  in  subordination  to  this,  the  sub- 
jects of  law,  medicine  and  chronology.  It  is  evident,  there- 
fore, that  we  have  here  in  embryo,  as  it  were,  the  organiza- 
tion of  the  medieval  university ;  law  and  medicine  have  only 
to  be  secularized  and  freed  from  their  subordination  to 
theology,  and  the  medieval  university  in  its  complete  form 
appears. 

1  4,  13.     See  also  p.  163. 


PART  II 
THE  ETYMOLOGIES 


BOOK  I 
ON  GRAMMAR 

INTRODUCTION 


Grammar  did  not  appear  as  a  separate  body  of  knowl- 
edge until  a  late  period  in  the  Greek  civilization.  The 
merest  ground- work  of  the  science  had  sufficed  to  meet  all 
the  demands  of  education,  of  philosophy,  and  of  a  litera- 
ture in  course  of  production;  for  its  development  it  was 
necessary  to  await  a  period  of  literary  criticism.  When 
the  Alexandrian  scholars  began  to  compare  the  idiom  of 
Homer  with  that  of  their  own  day,  the  requisite  stimulus 
for  the  scientific  study  of  language  was  given,  and  gram- 
mar may  be  regarded  as  dating  from  the  Alexandrian  age. 

What  was  at  that  time  termed  grammar,  ypafifiariKii, 
included  far  more  than  the  modern  science;  it  was  the 
study  of  literature  at  large.  The  grammarian  might  have 
nothing  to  do  with  what  we  call  grammar,  but  be  a  stu- 
dent of  textual  criticism  or  mythology.  Any  sort  of  study 
undertaken  for  the  purpose  of  elucidating  the  poets  was 
grammatical.  Like  the  modern  professor  of  literature,  the 
only  invariable  characteristic  of  the  grammarian  was  his 
literary  point  of  view.^ 

The  grammatical  studies  of  the  Romans  were  patterned 

'  See  Sandys,  History  of  Classical  Scholarship,  pp.  6-10. 
89]  89 


90  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [qq 

closely  after  those  of  the  Greeks;  the  Greek  terminology 
and  organization  of  the  science  were  adopted  without 
change.  The  Roman  interest  in  the  subject  was  no  doubt 
heightened  by  the  fact  that  the  Roman  culture  was  a  bi- 
lingual one ;  thus  a  broad  basis  for  the  study  was  furnished, 
and  naturally  much  attention  was  given  to  the  derivation 
of  words.  A  large  number  of  scholarly  works  was  pro- 
duced, and  the  inferiority  of  the  borrowed  Roman  culture 
is  perhaps  less  noticeable  in  this  department  than  in  any 
other. 

It  was  inevitable  that  this  *  grammar ',  in  a  condensed 
form,  should  come  to  be  used  in  common  education.  Its 
outlines,  however,  were  rather  vague,  and  many  of  its 
departments  did  not  lend  themselves  to  the  concise  state- 
ment necessary  in  a  text-book.  The  first  Greek  school 
grammar,  the  texvtj  ypamuariK^^  of  Dionysius  Thrax,  which 
was  destined  to  be  the  basis  of  all  the  school  grammars  of 
antiquity,  appeared  about  80  B.  C.  It  is  noticeable  that 
although  the  definition  of  grammar  that  is  given  ^  is  the 
definition  of  the  grammar  of  the  scholars,  the  subjects 
actually  treated  are  little  more  than  the  parts  of  speech.  It 
was  natural  that  there  should  be  this  gap  between  promise 
and  performance.  For  a  long  time  no  doubt  this  mere  out- 
line was  filled  in  by  the  oral  interpretation  of  the  master- 

*  It  is  still  in  existence.  The  best  text  is  that  of  Uhlig,  1883  (Leip- 
zig). 

*  "  Grammar  is  a  practical  knowledge  of  the  usages  of  language  as 
generally  current  among  poets  and  prose  writers.  It  is  divided  into 
six  parts:  (i)  trained  reading  with  due  regard  to  prosody;  (2)  ex- 
planation according  to  poetical  figures;  (3)  ready  statement  of  dia- 
lectical peculiarities  and  allusions;  (4)  discovery  of  etymology;  (5) 
an  accurate  account  of  analogies;  (6)  criticism  of  poetical  produc- 
tions, which  is  the  noblest  part  of  grammatic  art."  The  Grammar  of 
Dionysius  Thrax,  translated  by  T.  Davidson  (St.  Louis,  1874),  P-  3-  I" 
contrast  to  this  definition  the  body  of  the  work  is  devoted  to  reading, 
punctuation,  the  alphabet,  syllables,  and  the  parts  of  speech. 


91  ]  ON  GRAMMAR  gj 

pieces  in  the  manner  of  the  scholars ;  but  when  these  ceased 
to  be  studied,  in  the  early  medieval  period,  the  study  of 
grammar  was  confined  to  the  material  offered  in  the  text- 
books.^ 

The  first  of  the  Romans  to  produce  a  school  grammar 
was  Remmius  Palaemon,  who  flourished  in  the  first  half 
of  the  first  century.  He  had  many  successors  in  the  later 
centuries  of  the  Roman  Empire,  and  the  literary  tradition 
of  the  school  grammar  continued  unbroken  into  the  Middle 
Ages.  The  most  influential  exponent  of  the  subject  was 
Aelius  Donatus,  whose  Ars,  written  in  the  fourth  century, 
was  used  throughout  the  Middle  Ages.  The  chief  writers 
of  grammatical  texts  in  the  centuries  preceding  Isidore 
were  Victorinus,  Donatus,  Diomedes,  Charisius,  and  Mar  • 
tianus  Capella  in  the  fourth;  Consentius  and  Phocas  in  the 
fifth;  and  Cassiodorus  in  the  sixth.  No  new  contribu- 
tions were  being  made  to  the  science,  and  these  writers  had 
no  other  resource  than  to  copy  their  predecessors,  which 
they  did  in  a  slavish  manner.^  The  verbal  similarity  in  all 
of  them  is  so  strong  that  it  is  impossible  to  trace  with  cer- 
tainty the  immediate  source  of  any  one  of  the  later  writers. 

*  The  older  definition  or  its  substance  was  still  retained,  however. 
See  p.  97.  Its  retention  is  rather  an  evidence  of  conservatism  than  a 
proof  of  the  continued  study  of  the  poets. 

'  The  following  list  of  passages  gives  some  idea  of  the  way  in  which 
grammatical  works  were  produced  in  this  age. 

Vox  sive  sonus  est  aer  ictus,  id  est  percussus,  sensibilis  auditu 
quantum  in  ipso  est.  Probi,  Instituta  Artium  in  Keil,  Grammatici 
Latini,  vol.  vi,  p.  4,  13. 

Vox  est  aer  ictus  sensibilis  auditu,  quantum  in  ipso  est.  Donati, 
Ars  Grammatica.    Ibid.,  vol.  iv,  p.  367,  5. 

Vox  est  aer  ictus  sensibilis  auditu,  verbis  emissa,  et  exacta  sensus 
prolatio.  Sergii,  Explanationum  in  artem  Donati,  Liber  I..  Ibid.,  vol. 
iv,  p.  487,  4- 

Vox  est  aer  auditu  percipibilis  quantum  in  ipso  est.  Marius  Victor- 
inus, Ars  Grammatica.    Ibid.,  vol.  vi,  p.  4,  13. 

Vox  quid  est?  Aer  ictus  sensibilisque  auditu  quantum  in  ipso  est. 
Maximus  Victorinus,  Ars  Grammatica.    Ibid.,  vol.  vi,  p.  189,  8. 


92  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [92 

Isidore's  account  of  grammar  is  of  somewhat  more  than 
the  average  length  ^  found  in  these  text-books,  but  its  lack 
of  solid  substance,  in  which  it  differs  from  the  books  of  the 
fourth  century,  measures  the  decline  in  intellectual  grasp 
and  thoroughness  of  the  two  intervening  centuries.  Dona- 
tus,  Servius,  and  even  Capella,  stick  closely  to  the  technique 
of  the  subject  and  are  thorough-going;  their  books  are  cal-. 
culated  to  afford  a  severe  discipline  to  the  student.  But 
in  Isidore  a  feebleness  in  handling  the  subject  is  evident; 
he  is  apparently  unaware  of  the  superior  importance  of 
such  subjects  as  conjugation  and  declension,  and  he  is  very 
easily  led  into  confusion  by  the  trains  of  thought  suggested 
by  his  frequent  derivations.^ 

ANALYSIS  ^ 

A.  Introductory. 

1.  Definition  of  ars  and  disciplina  (ch.  i). 

2.  Definition  of  the  seven  liberal  arts  (ch.  2). 

Vox  articulata  est  aer  percussus  sensibilis  auditu  quantum  in  ipso 
est,  Cassiodorus,  Institutio  de  Arte  Grammatica.  Ibid.,  vol.  vii,  p. 
215,  4. 

Vox  est  aer  ictus  sensibilis  auditu,  quantum  in  ipso  est.  Isidore, 
Etymologiae,  i,  15. 

These  grammars  are  almost  altogether  made  up  of  definitions  which 
had  become  stereotyped. 

^  The  greater  length  of  his  treatment  is  due  to  the  fact  that  he  in- 
cludes more  subjects  than  do  the  preceding  writers  of  text-books.  A 
comparison  of  his  table  of  contents  with  those  of  Cassiodorus,  Mar- 
tianus  Capella,  Donatus,  and  Servius  shows  that  he  professes  to  cover 
much  more  than  they;  he  has  ten  topics  that  do  not  appear  in  Donatus' 
Ars  Grammatica,  and  a  greater  number  that  do  not  appear  in  Servius, 
Capella,  or  Cassiodorus. 

'  See  especially  his  definition  of  verbum,  i,  9,  i. 

'  The  analysis  is  meant  to  indicate  briefly  the  formal  organization 
of  the  subject.  It  is  followed  by  selected  passages  in  translation, 
which,  while  illustrating  the  technical  treatment,  are  meant  rather  to 
give  what  is  of  more  general  interest.  It  must  be  remembered  that  this 
treatment  by  selected  passages  fails  to  give  a  just  idea  of  the  meager- 
ness,  attenuation,  and  confusion  of  the  material  considered  as  a  whole. 


93]  ON  GRAMMAR  q^ 

3.  The  Hebrew  and  Greek  alphabets  (ch.  3). 

4.  The  Latin  alphabet  (ch.  4). 
B.  Grammar. 

1.  Definition  and  divisions^  (ch.  5). 

2.  Parts  of  speech  (chs.  6-14). 

a.  de  nomine  (ch.  7). 

Propria  (four  sub-classes  of  proper  nouns  are 
given). 

Appellativa  (twenty-eight  sub-classes  of  com- 
mon nouns  are  given). 

Nominis  comparatio  (comparison  of  adjec- 
tives). 

Genera  (genders). 

Numerus. 

Figura  (simple  and  compound  nouns). 

Casus. "^ 

b.  de  pronomine^  (ch.  8). 

c.  de  verbo  (ch.  9). 

Formae  (desiderative,  inchoative  and  frequen- 
tative verbs). 

Modi  (indicative,  imperative,  optative,  con- 
junctive, infinitive,  impersonal). 

Conjugationes.^ 

Genera  (active,  passive,  neuter,  common,  and 
deponent  verbs). 

d.  de  adverbio'^  (ch.  10). 

1  See  p.  97, 

'  A  set  of  terms  unfamiliar  to  the  modern  student  of  grammar  is 
given  under  this  head.  Nouns  having  six  distinct  case- forms  are 
called  hexaptota;  those  having  five,  pentaptota,  and  so  on.  See  i, 
7,  ZZ- 

*  Pronouns  are  classified  according  to  use  into  Hnita,  infinita,  minus 
quam  finita,  possessiva,  relativa,  demonstrative ;  and  according  to 
origin  into  primigenia  and  deductiva. 

*  Three  conjugations  are  given. 

*  Note  part  of  the  definition :   "  Adverbium   autem   sine  verbo  non 


94  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [^ 

e.  de  participio  (the  participle)  (ch.  ii). 

f.  de  conjunctione  (ch.  12). 

g.  de  praepositionibus  (ch.  13). 
h.  de  inter jectione  (ch.  14). 

3.  Articulate  speech  (ch.  15). 

4.  The  syllable  (ch.   16). 

5.  Metrical  feet'  (ch.  17). 

6.  Accent^  (chs.  18,  19). 

7.  Punctuation  (ch.  20). 

8.  Signs  and  abbreviations  (Notae)   (chs.  21-26). 

a.  Notae  sententiariim    (critical   marks  used   in 
manuscripts). 

b.  Notae  vulgar es  (short-hand). 

c.  Notae  militares   (abbreviations  used  in  mili- 
tary rolls). 

d.  Notae  litterarum  (cipher-writing). 

e.  Notae  digit orum  (sign  language). 

9.  Orthography  (ch.  2y). 

10.  Analogy®  (ch.  28). 

11.  Etymology  (ch.  29). 

habet   plenam    significationem,    ut   hodie:    adjicis    illi    verbum,    hodie 
scribo,  et  juncto  verbo  implesti  sensum."    i,  10,  i. 

*  Isidore  asserts  that  there  are  one  hundred  and  twenty- four  sorts 
of  metrical  feet,  "  four  of  two  syllables,  eight  of  three,  sixteen  of 
four,  thirty-two  of  five,  sixty- four  of  six."    i,  17,  i. 

'  The  ten  so-called  accents  of  the  grammarians  are  described :  the 
acute,  the  grave,  the  circumflex,  the  marks  to  indicate  long  and  short 
vowels,  the  hyphen,  the  comma,  the  apostrophe,  the  rough  and  smooth 
breathing. 

•  This  section  is  to  be  explained  by  reference  to  the  chief  contro- 
versy in  the  history  of  the  science  of  grammar  in  classical  times,  that 
between  analogy  and  anomaly,  or  whether  grammatical  regularity  or 
irregularity  was  the  more  basic  phenomenon.  In  Capella's  grammar 
analogia  is  the  heading  under  which  declensions  of  nouns  and  con- 
jugations of  verbs  are  given,  while  exceptions  are  grouped  under  the 
heading  anomola.  See  Martianus  Capella,  Eyssenhardt,  pp.  75-97. 
Also  Sandys,  History  of  Classical  Scholarship,  Index. 


95]  ON  GRAMMAR  g^ 

12.  Glosses  (ch.  30). 

13.  Synonyms  (ch.  31). 

14.  Barbarisms,  solecisms  ^  and  other  faults  *  (chs.  32- 

34). 

15.  Metaplasms  (poetic  license  in  changing  the  forms  of 

words  (ch.  35). 

16.  Schemata  (rhetorical  figures)   (ch.  36). 

17.  Tropes^  (ch.  37). 

18.  Prose  (ch.  38). 

19.  Metres  *  (ch.  39). 

20.  The  fable  (ch.  40). 

21.  History  (chs.  41-44). 

EXTRACTS 

Chapter  2.    On  the  seven  liberal  arts.'' 

1.  The  disciplines  belonging  to  the  liberal  arts  are  seven. 
First,  grammar,  that  is,  practical  knowledge  of  speech.  Sec- 
ond, rhetoric,  which  is  considered  especially  necessary  in  civil 
causes  because  of  the  brilliancy  and  copiousness  of  its  elo- 
quence. Third,  dialectic,  called  also  logic,  which  separates 
truth  from  falsehood  by  the  subtlest  distinctions. 

2.  Fourth,  arithmetic,  which  includes  the  significance  and 
the  divisions  of  numbers.  Fifth,  music,  which  consists  of 
poems  and  songs. 

*  Solecism  is  "the  failure  to  put  words  together  according  to  the 
correct  method",  while  barbarism  includes  blunders  in  the  use  of 
single  words,     i,  33,  i- 

'  Chiefly  a  parade  of  long  words,  like  perissologia,  macrologia,  tapi- 
nosis,  cacosyntheton,  etc.     i,  34. 

*  A  large  number  of  poetical  figures  are  described.  This  section  is 
probably  nothing  but  an  evidence  of  conservatism,  since  Isidore  cer- 
tainly did  not  include  a  study  of  the  poets  in  his  scheme  of  education. 

*  A  number  of  metres  are  described  and  some  attention  is  given  to 
different  kinds  of  poetry,  such  as  the  elegiac,  bucolic,  hymn,  cento,  etc. 

*  Du  Breul  has  disciplinis,  not  artibus. 


96  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [^5 

3.  Sixth,  geometry,  which  embraces  measurements  and  di- 
mensions. Seventh,  astronomy,  which  contains  the  law  of  the 
stars. 

Chapter  3.    On  the  ordinary  letters. 

1.  The  foundations  of  the  grammatic  art  are  the  ordinary 
letters,  which  elementary  teachers  ^  are  occupied  with,  instruc- 
tion in  which  is,  as  it  were,  the  infancy  of  the  grammatic  art. 
Whence  Varro  calls  it  litteratio.  Letters  are  signs  of  things, 
symbols  of  words,  whose  power  is  so  great  that  without  a 
voice  they  speak  to  us  the  words  of  the  absent ;  for  they  intro- 
duce words  by  the  eye,  not  by  the  ear. 

2.  The  use  of  the  letters  was  invented  in  order  to  remember 
things.  For  things  are  fettered  by  letters  in  order  that  they 
may  not  escape  through  forgetfulness.  For  in  such  a  variety 
of  things  all  could  not  be  learned  by  hearing  and  held  in  the 
memory. 

4.  Latin  and  Greek  letters  have  evidently  come  from  the 
Hebrew.  For  among  the  latter  aleph  was  first  so  named ;  then 
[judging]  by  the  similarity  of  sound  it  was  transmitted  to  the 
Greeks  as  alpha;  likewise  to  the  Latins  as  a.  For  the  bor- 
rower fashioned  the  letter  of  the  second  language  according  to 
similarity  of  sound,  so  that  we  can  know  that  the  Hebrew 
language  is  the  mother  of  all  languages  and  alphabets.^ 

7.  The  letter  r  Pythagoras  of  Samos  first  made,  after  the 
model  of  human  life,  whose  lower  stem  denotes  the  first  of 
life,  which  is  unsettled  and  has  not  yet  devoted  itself  to  the 
vices  or  the  virtues.  The  double  part  which  is  above,  begins 
in  youth;  of  which  the  right  side  is  steep,  but  leads  to  the 
blessed  life;  the  left  is  easier,  but  leads  down  to  ruin  and 
destruction.  .  ,  . 

8.  Among  the  Greeks  there  are  five  mystic  letters.*  The 
first  is  Y,  which  denotes  human  life,  of  which  we  have  just 

^  Librarii  et  calculatores. 

'  From  Jerome,  ad  Soph.,  in  Migne,  Pair.  Lat.,  6,  7,  30. 
'  This  sentence,  as  many  others,  is  in  the  accusative  and  infinitive 
without  any  governing  verb.  , 


97]  ON  GRAMMAR  97 

spoken.  The  second  is  e,  which  denotes  death.  For  judges 
used  to  place  this  letter,  theta,  at  the  names  of  those  whom 
they  condemned  to  death ;  and  it  is  called  theta  otto  rov  davdrov, 
i.  e.,  from  death.  Whence  also  it  has  a  weapon  through  its 
middle,  i.  e.,  the  sign  of  death.  Of  which  a  certain  one  speaks 
thus: 

O  multum  ante  alias  infelix  littera  theta! 
9.  The  third  is  t,  indicating  the  shape  of  the  cross  of  the 
Lord.  .  .  .  The  remaining  two,  the  first  and  the  last,  Christ 
claims  for  himself.  For  he  is  himself  the  beginning,  himself 
the  end,  saying:  ''I  am  a  and  w,"  for  they  pass  into  one 
another  in  turn,  and  alpha  passes  in  regular  succession  to  w 
and  again  w  returns  to  alpha;  in  order  that  the  Lord  might 
show  in  himself  that  he  was  the  way  from  the  beginning  to 
the  end  and  from  the  end  to  the  beginning. 

Chapter  4.    On  the  Latin  alphabet. 

17.  The  nations  gave  the  names  of  the  letters  in  accordance 
with  the  sound  in  their  own  language,  noting  and  distinguish- 
ing the  sounds  of  the  voice.  After  they  had  noted  them,  they 
gave  them  names  and  forms;  and  they  made  the  forms  in 
part  at  pleasure,  in  part  according  to  the  sound  of  the  letters ; 
as,  for  example,  i  and  o,  of  which  one  has  a  slender  stem,  just 
as  it  has  a  thin  sound;  the  sound  of  the  other  is  gross 
(pinguis),  just  as  its  form  is  full. 

Chapter  5.    On  grammar. 

I.  Grammar  is  the  science  of  speaking  correctly,  and  is  the 
source  and  foundation  of  literature.^  This  one  of  the  disci- 
plines was  discovered  next  after  the  ordinary  letters,  so  that 
those  who  have  already  learned  the  letters  may  learn  by  it  the 
method  of  speaking  correctly.  Grammar  took  its  name  from 
letters,  for  the  Greeks  call  letters  ypd/xfiara. 

4.  The  divisions  of  the  grammatic  art  are  enumerated  by 
certain  authorities  as  thirty;  namely,  eight  parts  of  speech, 
the  articulate  voice,  the  letter,  the  syllable,  metrical  feet,  ac- 
cent, marks  of  punctuation,  signs  and  abbreviations,  orthog- 

^  Liberalium  litterarum. 


98  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [^g 

raphy,  analogy,  etymology,  glosses,  synonyms,  barbarisms, 
solecisms,  [other]  faults,  metaplasms,  schemata,  tropes,  prose, 
metres,  fables,  histories. 

Chapter  6.    On  the  parts  of  speech. 

1.  Aristotle  first  taught  two  parts  of  speech,  the  noun  and 
the  verb.  Then  Donatus  defined  eight.  But  all  revert  to  these 
two  chief  ones,  that  is,  to  the  noun  and  the  verb,  which  indi- 
cate the  person  and  the  act.  The  remainder  are  appendages, 
and  trace  their  origin  to  these. 

2.  For  the  pronoun  arises  from  the  noun  and  performs  its 
function,  as  orator,  ille.  The  adverb  arises  from  the  noun,  as 
doctus,  docte.  The  participle  from  the  noun  and  verb,  as 
lego,  leg  ens.  But  the  conjunction  and  preposition  and  inter- 
jection are  included  in  those  mentioned.^  Many  therefore 
have  defined  five  parts  because  these  are  superfluous. 

Chapter  21.    On  critical  marks  (notae  sententiarum) . 

I.  In  addition  there  were  certain  marks  in  the  writings  of 
celebrated  authors,  which  the  ancients  set  in  poems  and  his- 
tories to  discriminate  among  the  passages.  A  mark  is  a 
separate  form  placed  like  a  letter,  to  indicate  some  judgment 
about  a  word,  thought  or  verse.  There  are  twenty-six  marks 
used  in  annotating  verses,  which  are  enumerated  below  with 
their  names.* 

Chapter  22.    On  shorthand. 

I.  Ennius  ^  first  invented  1,100  shorthand  signs.  The  use 
of  the  signs  was  that  scribes  wrote  whatever  was  said  in 
public  meeting  or  in  court,  several  standing  by  at  one  time  and 
deciding  among  themselves  how  many  words  and  in  what 
order  each  should  write.  At  Rome  Tullius  Tiro,  Cicero's 
freedman,  was  the  first  to  invent  shorthand,  but  only  for 
prepositions.* 

*  In  complexum  istarum  cadunt. 
»  See  Etytn.,  i,  21,  2-28. 

*  The  grammarian. 

*  Notas  sed  tantutn  praepositionum.  Probably  abbreviations  for 
prepositions  and  other  connectives  that  were  in  frequent  use. 


99]  ON  GRAMMAR  gg 

2.  After  him  Vipsanius  Philargius  and  Aquila,  Maecenas's 
freedman,  each  added  a  number  of  signs.  Then  Seneca,  col- 
lecting them  all  and  arranging  them  and  increasing  their  num- 
ber, raised  the  total  to  5,000.  The  signs  (notae)  are  so-called 
because  they  denote  words  or  syllables  by  marks,^  and  bring 
them  again  to  the  notice  of  readers,  and  they  who  have  learned 
them  are  now  properly  called  notarii. 

Chapter  2y.    On  orthography. 

1.  Orthography  is  Greek,  and  it  means  in  the  Latin  correct 
writing;  for  bpd^  in  the  Greek  means  correct,  and  ypatp^ 
means  writing.  This  branch  of  knowledge  teaches  us  how  we 
ought  to  write.  For  as  the  art  ^  treats  of  the  inflection  of  the 
parts  of  speech,  so  orthography  deals  with  the  knowledge  of 
writing,  as,  for  example, 

ad,  when  it  is  a  preposition,  takes  the  letter  d;  when  it  is  a 
conjunction,  the  letter  t. 

2.  Haud,  when  it  is  an  adverb  of  negation,  is  terminated  by 
the  letter  d  and  is  aspirated  at  the  beginning;  but  when  it  is 
a  conjunction,  it  is  written  with  the  letter  t  and  is  without  as- 
piration. 

7.  Forsitan  ought  to  be  written  with  n  at  the  end,  because 
its  uncorrupted  form  is  forte  si  tandem. 

Chapter  29.    On  etymology. 

I.  Etymology  is  the  derivation  of  words,*  when  the  force 
of  a  verb  or  a  noun  is  ascertained  through  interpretation. 
This  Aristotle  called  avupoUv,  and  Cicero,  notatio,  because  it 
explains  the  names  of  things ;  *  as,  for  example,  Humen  is 
so  called  from  Uuere,  because  it  arose  from  flowing. 
•  2.  A  knowledge  of  etymology  is  often  necessary  in  inter- 
pretation, for,  when  you  see  whence  a  name  has  come,  you 
grasp  its  force  more  quickly.     For  every  consideration  of  a 

1  Praefixis  characterihus. 

'  Among  the  seven  liberal  arts  grammar  is  the  art  par  excellence. 

'  Cf.  Quintilian,  i,  6,  28. 

*  Quia  nomina  et  verba  rerum  nota  facit. 


lOO  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [iqo 

thing  is  clearer  when  its  etymology  is  known.  Not  all  names, 
however,  were  given  by  the  ancients  in  accordance  with 
nature,  but  certain  also  according  to  whim,  just  as  we  some- 
times give  slaves  and  estates  names  according  to  our  fancy. 

3.  Hence  it  is  that  the  etymologies  of  some  names  are  not 
found,  since  certain  things  have  received  their  name  not  ac- 
cording to  the  quality  in  which  they  originated,  but  according 
to  man's  arbitrary  choice.  Etymologies  are  given  in  accord- 
ance with  cause,  as  reges  from  regere,  that  is,  recte  agere; 
or  origin,  as  homo  because  he  is  from  the  earth  {humus)  ;  or 
from  contraries,  as  lutum  (mud)  from  lavare — since  mud  is 
not  clean — and  lucus  (sacred  grove),  because  being  shady  it 
has  little  light  (parum  luceat). 

4.  Certain  words  also  were  formed  by  derivation  from 
other  words;  as  prudens  from  prudentia.  Certain  also  from 
cries,  as  graculus  (jackdaw)  from  garrulitas.  Certain  also 
have  sprung  from  a  Greek  origin,  and  have  changed  over 
into  the  Latin,  as  silva,^  domus. 

5.  Other  things  have  derived  their  names  from  the  names 
of  places,  cities,  or  rivers.  Many  also  are  drawn  from  the 
languages  of  foreign  peoples;  whence  their  derivation  is  per- 
ceived with  difficulty;  for  there  are  many  barbarous  words 
unknown  to  the  Greeks  and  Latins. 

Chapter  32.    On  barbarism. 

I.  Barbarism  is  the  uttering  of  a  word  with  an  error  in  a 
letter  or  in  a  quantity :  a  letter,  as  Horiet,  when  Horehit  is  cor- 
rect ;  a  quantity,  if  the  first  syllable  is  prolonged  instead  of  the 
middle  one,  as  latehrae,  tenebrae.  And  it  is  called  barbarism 
from  the  barbarian  peoples,  since  they  were  ignorant  of  the 
purity  of  Latin  speech;  for  each  nation  becoming  subject  to 
the  Romans,  transmitted  to  Rome  along  with  their  wealth 
their  faults,  both  of  speech  and  of  morals. 

Chapter  37.     On  tropes. 

I.  Tropes  are  so  named  by  the  grammarians  from  a  Greek 
word   which   in   Latin   means   modi  locutionum.     They   are 

*  Cf.  17,  6,  5,  where  silva  (xilva)  is  derived  f rom  s v/lov  (wood). 


lOl]  ON  GRAMMAR  lOi 

turned  from  their  own  meaning  to  a  kindred  meaning  that  is 
not  their  own.  And  it  is  very  difficult  to  comment  on  the 
names  of  them  all,  but  Donatus  gave  for  practice  a  list  of  thir- 
teen selected  from  the  whole  number. 

2.  Metaphor  is  the  assumption  of  a  transfer  of  meaning  in 
some  word,  as  when  we  say  segetes  Huctuare  (the  grain-fields 
billow),  vites  gemmare,  when  we  do  not  find  any  waves  or 
gems  in  these  things,  but  the  words  are  transferred  from  the 
old  application  to  a  new  one.  These  and  other  tropical  forms 
of  speech  are  veiled  with  figurative  cloaks  with  reference  to 
the  things  to  be  understood,  with  the  view  that  they  may  ex- 
ercise the  intelligence  of  the  reader,  and  may  not  be  cheap 
because  they  are  unadorned  and  easily  apprehended 

22.  Allegory  is  the  saying  of  things  that  do  not  belong  to 
the  matter  in  hand  (alienoloquium) ,  for  one  thing  is  said,  an- 
other is  understood ;  as,  tres  in  littore  cervos  conspicit  errantes, 
where  the  three  leaders  of  the  Punic  war,  or  the  three  Punic 
wars  are  indicated;  and  in  the  Bucolics,  aurea  mala  decern 
misi,  i.  e.,  ten  pastoral  eclogues  to  Augustus.  There  are  many 
species  of  this  figure,  of  which  seven  are  conspicuous:  irony, 
antiphrasis,  enigma,  charientismus,  paroemia,  sarcasmus, 
astysmus. 

23.  It  is  irony  where  the  thought  is  given  a  contrary  mean- 
ing by  the  manner  of  speech.  By  this  figure  something  is 
said  cleverly,  either  in  the  way  of  accusation  or  insult,  as  the 
following : 

Vestras,  Eure,  domos,  ilia  se  jactet  in  aula 
Aeolus,  et  clauso  ventorum  carcere  regnet. 

And  why  aula  (palace)  if  it  is  career  (prison)  !  It  is  made 
clear  by  the  manner  of  speech,  for  the  manner  of  speech  says 
career,  Jactet  in  aula  is  irony,  and  the  whole  is  expressed 
in  a  contradictory  manner  of  speech  by  the  figure  of  irony 
which  mocks  by  praising. 

24.  Antiphrasis  is  language  to  be  understood  to  the  con- 
trary, as,  lucus  (sacred  grove),  since  it  is  w.ithout  light  {lux) 
because  of  the  excessive  gloom  of  the  woods.  .  .  . 


I02  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [102 

25.  Between  irony  and  antiphrasis  there  is  this  difference, 
that  irony  indicates  by  the  manner  of  speaking  alone  what  is 
meant,  as  when  we  say  to  a  man  doing  ill,  "  Bonum  est  quod 
facis ".  But  antiphrasis  indicates  the  contrary  not  by  the 
voice  of  the  speaker,  but  only  in  the  words,  whose  derivation 
is  the  opposite  [of  their  meaning]. 

Chapter  39.    On  metres. 

4.  Whatever  is  measured  by  verse  feet  is  a  poem  {carmen). 
It  is  thought  that  the  name  was  given  because  it  was  pro- 
nounced rhythmically  (carptim),  or  .  .  .  because  they  who 
sang  such  things  were  supposed  to  be  out  of  their  minds 
(mente  car  ere). 

9.  .  .  .  [The  hexameter]  excels  the  rest  of  the  metres  in 
authority,  being  alone  of  them  all  fitted  as  well  to  the  greatest 
tasks  as  to  the  small,  and  with  an  equal  capacity  for  sweet- 
ness and  delight.  ...  It  is  also  older  than  the  other  metres. 
It  is  proved  that  Moses  was  the  first  to  use  it  in  the  song  of 
Deuteronomy,  long  before  Pherecydes  and  Homer.  Whence 
also  it  is  evident  that  the  making  of  poems  was  older  among 
the  Hebrews  than  among  the  nations.  Since  Job,  too.  who 
goes  back  as  far  as  Moses,  sang  in  hexameter  verse,  [using] 
the  dactyl  and  the  spondee. 

12.  Hecataeus  of  Miletus  is  said  to  have  been  the  first 
among  the  Greeks  to  compose  this  metre;  or,  as  others  think, 
Pherecydes  of  Syros,  and  this  metre  before  Homer  was  called 
Pythian,  after  Homer,  heroic. 

17.  It  is  manifest  that  David  the  prophet  was  the  first  to 
compose  and  sing  hymns  in  praise  of  God.  Later  among  the 
nations  Timothoe  who  (quae)  lived  in  the  time  of  Ennius, 
long  after  David,  wrote  the  first  hymns  in  honor  of  Apollo 
and  the  Muses.  Hymni  is  translated  from  the  Greek  to  the 
Latin  as  laudes. 

25.  Among  grammarians  they  are  wont  to  be  called  centones 
who  [take]  from  the  poems  of  Homer  and  Virgil  with  a  view 
to  their  own  works,  and  put  together  in  patchwork  fashion 
many  bits  found  here  and  there  to  suit  each  subject. 


103]  ON  GRAMMAR  103 

26.  Proba,  wife  of  Adelphos,  composed  at  great  length  a 
cento  from  Virgil  about  the  structure  of  the  universe  and  the 
gospels,^  the  subject-matter  being  made  up  verse  by  verse, 
and  the  verses  being  arranged  appropriately  to  suit  the  sub- 
ject-matter. And  a  certain  Pomponius,  among  other  poems 
{otia)  of  his  own  pen,  wrote  Tityrus  from  the  same  poet  in 
honor  of  Christ. 

Chapter  41.    On  history. 

1.  History  is  the  story  of  what  has  been  done,  and  by  its 
means  what  has  taken  place  in  the  past  is  perceived.  It  is 
called  in  the  Greek  historia,  and  rov  loTopHv*  that  is  from  seeing 
(videre)  and  learning  (cognoscere).  For  among  the  ancients 
no  one  wrote  history  unless  he  had  been  present  and  witnessed 
what  was  to  be  described.  For  we  understand  what  we  see 
better  than  we  do  what  we  gather  by  hearsay. 

2.  For  what  is  seen  is  told  without  lying.  This  discipline 
belongs  to  grammar  because  whatever  is  worth  remembering 
is  entrusted  to  letters.  .  .  . 

Chapter  42.    On  the  first  writers  of  history. 

1.  Moses  was  the  first  among  us  to  write  a  history  of  the 
beginning  of  the  world.  Among  the  nations  Dares  Phrygius 
was  the  first  to  publish  a  history  of  the  Greeks  and  Trojans, 
which  they  say  was  written  by  him  on  palm-leaves. 

2.  And  after  Dares,  Herodotus  is  considered  the  first  his- 
torian in  Greece.  After  whom  Pherecydes  was  famous,  at 
the  time  when  Esdras  wrote  the  law. 

Chapter  43.    On  the  usefulness  of  history. 

1.  Histories  of  the  heathen  do  no  harm  to  their  readers 
where  they  tell  what  is  useful.  For  many  wise  men  have  put 
past  deeds  into  their  histories  for  the  instruction  of  the 
present. 

2.  Besides,  in  history  the  total  reckoning  of  past  times  and 
years  is  embraced  and  many  necessary  matters  are  examined 
in  the  light  of  the  succession  of  consuls  and  kings. 

.  *  De  Fabrica  mundi  et  Evangeliis. 


I04.  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [104 

Chapter  44.    On  the  sorts  of  history. 

1.  There  are  three  sorts  of  history.  The  doings  of  one  day 
are  called  ephemeris.    Among  us  this  name  is  diarium.  .  .  . 

2.  What  is  arranged  according  to  separate  months  is  called 
kalendaria. 

3.  Annales  are  the  deeds  of  the  years,  one  by  one.  For 
whatever  was  related  in  the  commentaries  from  year  to  year 
as  worthy  of  memory,  in  peace  and  war,  by  sea  and  land,  they 
named  annals  from  the  deeds  of  a  year. 

4.  But  history  is  a  thing  of  many  years  or  times,  and 
through  diligence  in  it  the  yearly  commentaries  are  put  into 
books.  Between  history  and  annals  there  is  this  difference, 
that  history  belongs  to  the  times  which  we  see,  and  annals 
belong  to  years  which  our  age  does  not  know.  Whence  Sallust 
is  made  up  of  history;  Livy,  Eusebius  and  Hieronymous  of 
annals  and  history. 


BOOK  II 
ON  RHETORIC 

INTRODUCTION 

Rhetoric  held  a  position  in  the  ancient  world  that  the 
modern  reader  has  difficulty  in  understanding.  Democratic 
government,  including  the  popular  administration  of  jus- 
tice, at  a  time  when  all  discussion  was  necessarily  oral, 
created  an  ideal  condition  in  Athens  and  the  other  Greek 
states  for  the  development  of  oratory.  In  the  life  of  the 
Roman  republic,  too,  there  was  enough  of  the  popular  ele- 
ment to  make  public  speaking  of  the  greatest  importance. 
The  art  of  rhetoric  was  therefore  in  close  touch  with  the 
real  interests  of  life.  It  was  not  merely  a  school  discipline, 
but  a  preparation  for  a  definite  activity  that  held  a  high 
place  in  the  esteem  of  the  people,  and  it  embodied  a  set  of 
sensible  ideas  on  public  speaking  in  which  the  tendency  to 
over-elaboration  and  artificiality  characteristic  of  scholastic 
disciplines  was  kept  in  check  by  the  wholesome  influences 
that  came  from  practical  application. 

With  the  establishment  of  the  Roman  Empire  public 
discussion  of  political  matters  quickly  disappeared,  and 
forensic  oratory  for  the  same  reason  tended  to  decline. 
Thus  the  chief  element  which  had  given  vitality  to  ancient 
rhetoric  was  eliminated.  Roman  oratory,  however,  died 
hard.  It  nursed  itself  on  various  pretences  and  shows. 
Much  of  the  old  interest  in  oratory  turned  back  on  rhetoric, 
which  was  thus  exposed  to  a  double  danger,  as  an  educa- 
tional discipline  that  had  lost  connection  with  practical  life 
105]  105 


I06  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [io6 

and  as  a  subject  that  had  become  too  fashionable.  When 
once  the  new  influence  had  gained  headway  a  strong  ten- 
dency to  artificiality  was  revealed.  Rhetoric  became  scho- 
lastic and  ridiculously  overburdened  with  classification  and 
terminology;  it  grew  more  lifeless  as  it  grew  more  sys- 
tematic. Interest  then  gradually  subsided.  Treatises  grew 
shorter  and  drier,  and  consisted  largely  of  long  lists  of 
terms  defined  without  critical  understanding  of  their  mean- 
ing. The  subject  now  held  its  place  by  the  mere  force  of 
authority. 

This  was  the  state  of  rhetoric  in  Isidore's  time,  and  his 
treatment  reflects  the  condition  to  which  it  had  been  re- 
duced. He  says  that  "  it  is  easy  for  the  reader  to  admire 
but  impossible  to  understand  "  the  books  on  rhetoric,  and, 
further,  that  when  they  are  laid  aside  "  all  recollection  van- 
ishes." From  a  writer  with  this  attitude  little  need  be  ex- 
pected. His  few  miserable  pages,  compared  with  Quin- 
tilian's  interesting  treatise,  measure  fully  the  decline  of 
rhetoric  during  the  first  six  centuries  A.  D.  What  Isidore 
gives  is  merely  a  summary,  so  cursory  and  disjointed  that  it 
frequently  cannot  be  understood  without  liberal  reference 
to  the  fuller  treatises  of  his  predecessors. 

In  Isidore's  De  Rhetorica  practically  the  whole  of  Cas- 
siodorus'  text-book  on  this  subject  is  incorporated  without 
acknowledgment.  Two  authorities,  Victorinus  and  Cicero, 
are  quoted,^  but  on  referring  to  Cassiodorus  it  becomes 

^  Isidore,  Etym.,  2,  19,  14,  "  Praeterea  secundum  Victorinum  enthy- 
mematis  est  altera  definitio.  Ex  sola  propositione,  sicut  jam  dictum 
est,  ita  constat.  *  Si  tempestas  vitanda  est,  non  est  navigatio  requi- 
renda.'" 

Cassiodorus,  De  Rhet.  Halm,  Rhetores  Latini,  p.  500.  "  Praeterea 
secundum  Victorinum  enthymematis  est  altera  definitio.  Ex  sola 
propositione.  sicut  jam  dictum  est,  ita  constat  enthymema,  ut  est  illud : 
'  si  tempestas  vitanda  est,  non  est  navigatio  requirenda.' " 

Isidore,  Etym.,  2,  9,  18.    "  Hunc  Cicero  ita  facit  in  arte  rhetorica." 
Cass,  in  Halm,  p.  500,  18.    "  Hunc  Cicero  facit  in  arte  rhetorica." 


I07]  ON  RHETORIC  107 

plain  that  even  here  Isidore  is  merely  copying  his  author- 
ity's citation  of  authority.  However  his  brief  chapter  on 
law  cannot  be  paralleled  in  any  extant  treatise  before  his 
time  and  its  insertion  must  be  credited  to  his  initiative. 


I.  Definition  (ch.  i). 
11.  Chief  writers  (ch.  2). 

III.  Divisons  (ch.  3). 

1.  Inventio. 

2.  Dispositio, 

3.  Elocutio. 

4.  Memoria. 

5.  Pronuntiatio. 

IV.  The  three  kinds  of  cases  (ch.  4). 

1.  Deliberativum.^ 

2.  Demonstrativum} 

3.  Judiciale^ 

*  The  analytical  treatment  of  this  subject  is  obviously  carried  to  an 
absurd  degree.  The  whole  activity  of  the  orator  is  analyzed  into  five 
parts:  inventio,  dispositio,  elocutio  (wording),  memoria,  pronuntiatio. 
The  whole  subject-matter  is  analyzed  into  three  parts:  deliberative, 
epideictic,  forensic.  All  court  cases  are  analyzed  from  the  point  of 
view  of  the  defence,  according  to  status,  that  is,  according  to  the 
nature  of  the  leading  point  in  the  case.  The  speech  itself  (oratio) 
is  analyzed  into  four  parts :  introduction,  narrative,  argument  and  con- 
clusion. All  cases  are  analyzed  again  according  to  the  psychological 
impression  they  make  on  the  audience.  All  arguments  are  analyzed 
into  regular  and  irregular  syllogisms.  Even  negation,  giving  the  lie, 
is  analyzed  into  several  sorts.  Rhetorical  figures  are  analyzed  elab- 
orately. 

'  "  In  which  there  is  discussion  of  what  ought  or  ought  not  to  be 
done  in  regard  to  any  of  the  practical  affairs  of  life."  2,  4,  i.  The 
genus  deliherativum  is  divided  into  suasio  and  dissuasio,  and  each  of 
these  again,  under  the  three  headings,  honestum,  utile,  possibile. 

*  Epideictic ;  divided  into  laus  and  vituperatio,  2,  4. 

*  Forensic  rhetoric. 


I08  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [iqS 

V.  The  two-fold  status  of  cases  ^  (ch.  5). 
I.  Rationalis. 

a.  Conjectura.^ 

b.  Finish 

(i)  Juridicialis.* 

(a)  Absolut a.^ 

(b)  Assumptiva.^ 
(a)  Concessio."^ 

Purgatio.^ 
Deprecatio.^ 

*  Under  this  heading  we  have  the  chief  effort  of  ancient  rhetoric 
to  be  helpful  to  the  defense  in  cases  brought  before  the  courts.  The 
term  status  meant  the  crucial  point  in  a  case,  and  its  subdivisions  are 
intended  to  include  the  chief  kinds  of  crucial  points  upon  which  the 
advocate  must  base  his  speech.  The  inference  in  both  Isidore  and 
Cassiodorus  is  that  there  is  only  one  status  in  a  case,  but  Quintilian 
(3,  6,  21)  expressly  says  that  there  are  more  than  one,  and  that  the 
chief  status  in  a  case  "  is  the  strongest  point  in  it  on  which  the  whole 
matter  chiefly  turns." 

In  this  section  Isidore  borrows  from  Cassiodorus  almost  without 
change  in  the  wording.  In  one  case  he  has  made  a  serious  blunder  in 
copying:  the  subdivisions  that  Cassiodorus  places  under  qualitas,  Isi- 
dore has  placed  under  iinis.     (Cass.,  De  Rhet.,  Halm,  p.  496.) 

'  "  When  an  act  that  is  imputed  to  a  person  is  denied  by  another  ** 
(2,  5,  3),  and  the  balancing  of  evidence  is  the  method  of  deciding. 

'  "  When  it  is  maintained  that  the  act  that  is  the  matter  of  accusation 
is  not  that  [specified],  and  its  nature  is  shown  by  the  use  of  defini- 
tions."   2,  5,  3. 

*  "  In  which  the  nature  of  justice  and  right  and  the  abstract  grounds 
of  reward  and  punishment  are  gone  into."    2,  5,  5. 

*  Term  left  undefined. 

*  "  Which  of  itself  offers  no  satisfactory  ground  for  defence  but 
seeks  for  defence  beyond  its  own  limits."    2,  5,  5. 

'  "  When  the  accused  does  not  deny  the  act  but  demands  that  it  be 
pardoned."    2,  5,  6. 

*  "  When  the  deed  is  confessed  but  guilt  is  denied  "  on  the  ground 
of  ignorance,  accident,  or  necessity.     2,  5,  8. 

*  "  When  the  accused  confesses  that  he  has  committed  the  wrong 
and  has  done  so  purposely,  and  still  demands  that  he  be  pardoned, 
which  kind  can  be  of  very  rare  occurrence."      2,  5,  8. 


log]  ♦  ON  RHETORIC  IO9 

(b)  Remotio  criminis} 
{c)  Relatio  criminis.^ 
(d)   Comparatio.^ 
(2)  Negotialis.* 

c.  Qualitas.^ 

d.  Translation 
2.  Leg  alts. 

a.  Scriptum  et  voluntas.'^ 

b.  Leges  contrariae^ 

c.  Ambiguitas.^ 

d.  Collectio.^^ 

e.  Deiinitio  legalis.^^ 

*  "  When  the  accused  endeavors  energetically  to  divert  the  charge 
made  against  him  from  himself  and  his  guilt  to  another."    2,  5,  6. 

'"When  it  is  urged  that  there  is  justification  because  another  had 
committed  a  wrong  before."    2,  5,  7. 

'  "  When  some  other  honorable  or  expedient  act  of  another  is 
alleged,  for  the  accomplishing  of  which  the  act  specified  in  the  accu- 
sation is  asserted  to  have  been  done."    2,  5,  7. 

*  "  In  which  there  is  discussion  of  what  is  just  in  view  of  civil  cus- 
tom and  equity."    2,  5,  5. 

^  "  When  the  nature  of  the  case  is  inquired  into ;  and  since  the  dis- 
pute is  concerned  with  the  real  meaning  and  classification  of  the 
matter  at  stake,  this  is  called  the  constitutio  generalis."  2,  5,  3.  This 
is  the  general  heading  under  which  all  the  sub-heads  classified  under 
iinis  should  have  been  placed.  Isidore  made  a  mistake  in  copying 
from  Cassiodorus,  in  whom  the  classification  is  correct. 

*  "  When  the  case  depends  on  this,  that  it  is  not  the  proper  person 
who  brings  the  action,  or  that  it  is  not  before  the  proper  court,  at  the 
proper  time,  according  to  the  proper  law,  charging  the  proper  crime, 
demanding  the  proper  punishment."    2,  5,  4. 

'  "  When  the  words  seem  to  be  at  variance  with  the  intention  of  the 
writer."    2,  5,  9. 

°  "  When  two  or  more  laws  are  perceived  to  be  in  conflict  with  one 
another."     2,  5,  9. 

*  "  When  what  is  written  seems  to  have  two  or  more  meanings." 
2,  5,  10. 

10  '« When  from  what  is  written  another  thing  also  which  is  not 
written  is  inferred,"    2,  5,  10. 

"  "  When  inquiry  is  made  as  to  what  is  the  force  of  a  word."  2, 
5,  10. 


I  lo  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [ i  iq 

VI.  The  three- fold  division  of  controversies^  (ch.  6). 

1.  Simple. 

2.  Compound. 

3.  Complex. 

VIL  The  four  parts  of  a  speech  *  (ch.  7). 

1.  Exordium. 

2.  Narratio. 

3.  Argumentatio. 

4.  Conclusio. 

VIII.  The  five  modes  of  cases  '  (ch.  8). 

1.  Honestum, 

2.  Admirahile.^ 

3.  Humile. 

4.  Anceps. 

5.  Ohscurum. 

IX.  Argumentation  (ch.  9). 

1.  Inductio. 

2.  Ratio cinatio.^ 

a.  Enthymema. 

b.  Epicherema. 

c.  Mendacium.^ 
X.  Law^  (ch.  10). 

XL  The  sententious  saying  (ch.  11). 

*  A  division  applying  only  to  the  genus  deliherativum. 

'  Six  are  usually  given.  Cassiodorus  has  exordium,  narratio,  par- 
titio,  conHrmatio,  reprehensio,  conclusio.  Halm,  Rhetores  Latini  Min- 
ores,  p.  497. 

•  An  analysis  of  cases  according  to  the  emotional  effect  they  are 
likely  to  have  on  the  audience. 

*"Ut  admirentur  (judices)  quenquam  ad  defensionem  eius  acce- 
dere."     Halm,  316,  34,  from  Sulpitius  Victor. 

*  The  irregular  syllogism.     Each  sub-head  is  exhaustively  analyzed. 

•  Giving  the  lie  as  conclusion  of  an  irregular  syllogism. 

'  A  short  account  of  the  nature  of  law.  This  sub-head  is  not  found 
in  the  text-books  on  rhetoric  before  Isidore's  time. 


Ill]  ON  RHETORIC 


III 


XII.  Confirmation  and  denial  (ch.  12). 

XIII.  Personification  and  expression  of  character  (chs. 

13-14). 

XIV.  Kinds  of  subjects  (ch.  15). 

Finitum. 
Infinitum. 
XV.  Style  and  diction  (ch.  16). 
XVI.  The  three  ways  of  speaking  (ch.  17). 
Humile. 
Medium. 
Grandiloquium. 
XVII.  Parts  of  a  sentence  (ch.  18). 
XVIII.  Faults  to  be  avoided  ^  (chs.  19-20). 
XIX.  Figures'  (ch.  21). 

EXTRACTS 

Chapter  i.    On  rhetoric  and  its  name. 

1.  Rhetoric  is  the  science  of  speaking  well  in  civil  questions 
for  the  purpose  of  persuading  to  what  is  just  and  good.  It  is 
called  rhetoric  in  the  Greek  aird  tov  pTjTopi^eiv,  that  is,  from  elo- 
quence of  speech.  For  speech  among  the  Greeks  is  called 
p^aic,  and  the  orator  p^rup. 

2.  Rhetoric  is  allied  to  the  grammatic  art.  For  in  grammar 
we  learn  the  science  of  speaking  correctly,  and  in  rhetoric  we 
discover  in  what  way  to  express  what  we  have  learned. 

Chapter  2.    On  the  discoverers  of  the  art  of  rhetoric. 

I.  This  discipline  was  invented  by  Gorgias,  Aristotle  and 
Hermagoras  among  the  Greeks,  and  translated  into  Latin  by 
TuUius  and  Quintilian,  but  with  such  eloquence  and  variety 

*  In  the  use  of  letters,  words,  and  sentences. 

'  Figurae  verhorum  et  sententiarum.  Samples  of  the  former  are 
anadiplosis,  paradiastole,  antimetahole,  exoche;  of  the  latter  (forty- 
seven  in  all),  coenonesis,  parrhesia,  aposiopesis,  aetiologia,  epitro- 
chasmus.     Cf.  p.  107,  note. 


1 1 2  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [112 

that  it  is  easy  for  the  reader  to  admire,  impossible  to  under- 
stand. 

2.  For  while  he  holds  the  parchment  the  connected  dis- 
course as  it  were  cleaves  to  his  memory,  but  presently  when  it 
is  laid  aside  all  recollection  vanishes.  Perfect  knowledge  of 
this  discipline  makes  the  orator. 

Chapter  3.     On  the  name  of  the  orator  and  the  parts  of 
rhetoric. 

1.  The  orator  is  the  good  man  skilled  in  speaking.  *  The 
good  man'  means  nature,  character,  accomplishments  {arti- 
bus).  'Skilled  in  speaking'  means  studied  eloquence,  which 
consists  of  five  parts:  invention,  ordering,  diction  and  style, 
memory,  delivery,  and  the  purpose,  which  is  to  persuade  of 
something. 

2.  Skill  in  speaking  consists  in  three  things:  nature,  learn- 
ing, practise;  nature,  that  is,  talent;  learning,  knowledge; 
practice,  continuous  labor.  .These  are  the  things  that  are 
looked  to  not  only  in  the  orator  but  in  every  artist  with  a  view 
to  accomplishment. 

Chapter  4.    The  three  kinds  of  causes. 

1.  There  are  three  kinds  of  causes:  deliberative,  epideictic, 
judicial.  The  deliberative  kind  is  that  in  which  there  is  a  dis- 
cussion as  to  what  ought  or  ought  not  to  be  done  in  regard  to 
any  of  the  practical  affairs  of  life.  The  epideictic,  in  which  a 
character  is  shown  to  be  praiseworthy  or  reprehensible. 

2.  The  judicial,  in  which  opinion  as  to  reward  or  punish- 
ment with  reference  to  an  act  of  an  individual  is  given. 

Chapter  16.    Style  and  diction. 

2.  One  must  use  good  Latin  and  speak  to  the  point.  He 
speaks  good  Latin  who  constantly  uses  the  true  and  natural 
names  of  things,  and  is  not  at  variance  with  the  style  and  lit- 
erary refinement  of  the  present  time.  Let  it  not  be  enough 
for  him  to  be  careful  of  what  he  says,  without  saying  it  in  a 
clear,  attractive  manner;  nor  that  only,  without  saying  what 
he  says  wittily  also. 


113]  ^^  DIALECTIC  1 1 3 

Chapter  2i.    On  figures. 

I.  Speech  is  amplified  and  adorned  by  the  use  of  figures. 
Since  direct,  unvaried  speech  creates  a  weariness  and  disgust 
both  of  speaking  and  hearing,  it  must  be  varied  and  turned 
into  other  forms,  so  that  it  may  give  renewed  power  to  the 
speaker,  and  become  more  ornate  and  turn  the  judge  from  an 
aloof  countenance  and  attention. 

ON  DIALECTIC 

INTRODUCTION 

In  tracing  the  fortunes  of  logic  through  the  period  of 
decadence  and  the  dark  ages  the  effect  upon  it  of  a  transi- 
tion from  a  pagan  to  a  Christian  environment  need  scarcely 
be  taken  into  consideration.  Such  marks  of  degeneration  as 
it  shows  must  be  attributed  simply  to  the  general  decay  of 
thought,  which  was  marked  in  both  pagan  and  Christian 
spheres.  By  its  character  logic  was  well  adapted  to  pass 
from  the  service  of  Greek  philosophy  and  science  to  that 
of  Christian  theology :  it  had  been  worked  out  mainly  as  a 
method  of  Greek  science,  which  was  especially  backward 
in  the  fields  where  induction  plays  a  large  part;  conse- 
quently the  Greek  logic  is  not  inductive.  It  is  the  logic  of 
universals  ready-made,  and  it  has  nothing  to  do  with  their 
making;  it  receives  universals  as  authoritative.  It  was 
therefore  most  welcome  to  Christian  thinkers,  since  it  was 
precisely  adapted  to  *'  the  task  of  drawing  out  the  implica- 
tions of  dogmatic  premises."  ^ 

It  was  not  until  a  very  late  period  that  logic  appeared  in 
the  Latin  language  in  the  form  of  a  school  text.  In  fact, 
with  the  exception  of  Varro's  Dialectic  in  his  "  Nine  Books 
of  the  Disciplines,"  which  has  been  lost,   there  were  no 

1  H.  W.  Blunt,  Art.  "Logic,"  in  Encycl.  Brit.,  nth  ed.  See  also 
Rashdall,  Universities  of  Europe  in  the  Middle  Ages  (Oxford,  1895), 
vol.  i,  p.  36. 


114  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [n^ 

writings  on  logic  in  the  Latin  down  to  the  fourth  century. 
Instruction  in  the  subject  was  apparently  given  in  Greek 
and  to  but  few  pupils.  In  the  fourth  century,  however, 
Greek  was  going  out  of  use,  and  it  became  necessary,  if 
logic  was  to  be  saved  in  the  schools,  to  have  Latin  text- 
books.^ The  need  was  met  by  a  line  of  text- writers,  of 
whom  Marius  Victorinus  (c.  350)  was  the  first  The 
oldest  Latin  school-book  on  logic  that  has  survived,  how- 
ever, is  that  of  Martianus  Capella.  Neither  he  nor  his  two 
successors,  Cassiodorus  and  Isidore,  were  versed  in  the 
subject;  they  were  merely  compilers  of  educational  ency- 
clopedias. Such  was  the  perfunctory  origin  of  the  Latin 
text-books  on  logic. ^ 

The  reader  of  Isidore's  account  of  logic  is  struck  by  the 
enthusiasm  displayed.  Speaking  of  Aristotle's  Categories 
he  says :  "  This  work  of  Aristotle's  should  be  read  atten- 
tively, since,  just  as  is  stated  therein,  all  that  a  man  says  is 
included  in  the  ten  categories."  ®  Further  on  he  quotes 
the  saying  that  "  Aristotle  dipped  his  pen  in  intellect  when 
he  wrote  the  Perihermeniae.''  *  Again,  a  study  of  Apu- 
leius  "  will  introduce  the  reader  advantageously  with  God's 
help  to  great  paths  of  understanding."  ^  x\ll  of  these 
passages,  however,  come  word  for  word  from  Cassiodorus. 

^  It  was  thought  that  the  Latin  vocabulary  was  not  well  suited  to 
the  expression  of  the  ideas  of  logic.  Cf.  Martianus  Capella,  De 
Nuptiis  Philologiae  et  Mercurii  (ed.  Eyssenhardt)  where  Dialectica  is 
about  to  speak :  "  Ac  mox  Dialectica,  quanquam  parum  digne  latine 
loqui  posse  crederetur,  tamen  promptiore  fiducia  restrictisque  quadam 
obtutus  vibratione  luminibus  etiam  ante  verba  formidibilis,  sic  exorsa." 

'  It  is  true  that  the  works  of  Boethius,  which  were  not  school  texts, 
served  to  revivify  the  subject,  but  his  influence  was  very  slight  in  this 
respect  until  long  after  Isidore's  time.  M.  Manitius,  Geschichte  der 
lateinischen  Litteratur  des  Miitelalters  (Miinchen,  1911),  PP-  29-32. 

3  2,  26,  15.     Cf.  Cass.     Migne,  P.  L.,  vol.  Ixx,  col.  1170. 

*  2,  27,  I.    Cf.  Cass.    Migne,  P.  L.,  vol.  Ixx,  col.  1170. 

»  2,  28,  22.    Cf.  Cass.    Migne,  P.  L.,  vol.  Ixx,  col.  ii73- 


115]  ^^  DIALECTIC  1 1 5 

Isidore's  enthusiasm  as  well  as  his  bibliography  seems  to 
lack  genuineness.^ 

ANALYSIS 

I.  Definition  of  dialectic  (chs.  22,  23). 

I.  Distinction  between  dialectic  and  rhetoric. 
11.  Definition  of  philosophy  (ch.  24). 

III.  The  Isagoges  ^  of  Porphyry  (ch.  25). 

I.  The  five  predicables:  genus,  species,  differentia, 
proprium,  accidens. 

IV.  The  Categories  of  Aristotle  (ch.  26). 
V.  Aristotle's  De  perihermeniis  ^  (ch.  27). 

I.  Thought  as  expressed  in  language. 
VI.  The  syllogisms  (ch.  28). 

1.  Categorical  syllogisms. 

2.  Hypothetical  syllogisms. 
VII.  Definition  (ch.  29). 

The  fifteen  kinds  of  definition. 
VIII.  Arguments  (topica)  (ch.  30). 

The  twenty-two  loci  of  arguments. 
IX.  Opposites  (ch.  31). 

EXTRACTS 

Book  II,  Chapter  22.    On  dialectic. 

I.  Dialectic  is  the  discipline  elaborated  with  a  view  of  as- 
certaining the  causes  of  things.  In  itself  it  is  the  sub-division 
of  philosophy  that  is  called  logical,  i.  e.,  rational,  capable  of 
defining,  enquiring  and  expressing  precisely.     For  it  teaches 

^  The  substance  of  Isidore's  De  Dialectica  is  taken  chiefly  from  Cas- 
siodorus.  A  number  of  passages  seem  to  be  based  on  Martianus 
Capella:  for  example,  Etym.,  2,  31,  i,  on  Martianus  Capella  (Eyssen- 
hardt),  118,  8ff.;  Etym.,  2,  31,  4-5,  on  M.  C,  118,  15-25;  Etym.,  2,  31, 
7,  on  M.  C,  120,  9ff. 

'  Isidore's  ignorance  of  Greek  has  been  inferred  from  his  use  of 
the  forms,  isagogae  and  perihermeniae.     See  p.  36. 


1 16  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [115 

in  the  several  kinds  of  questions  how  the  true  and  false  are 
separated  by  discussion. 

2.  The  first  philosophers  used  dialectic  in  their  discourses, 
but  they  did  not  reduce  it  to  the  practical  form  of  an  art. 
After  them  Aristotle  systematized  the  subject-matter  of  this 
branch  of  learning,  and  called  it  dialectic,  because  there  is 
discussion  of  words  (dictis)  in  it;  for  ^ektov  means  dictio. 
And  dialectic  follows  after  the  discipline  of  rhetoric  because 
they  have  many  things  in  common. 

Chapter  23.    On  the  difference  between  the  dialectical  and  the 
rhetorical  art. 

1.  Varro,  in  the  nine  books  of  the  Disciplinae,  distinguished 
dialectic  and  rhetoric  by  the  following  simile :  "  Dialectic  and 
rhetoric  are  as  in  man's  hand  the  closed  fist  and  the  open 
palm,  the  former  drawing  words  together,  the  latter  scattering 
them." 

2.  If  dialectic  is  keener  in  expressing  things  precisely, 
rhetoric  is  more  eloquent  in  persuading  to  the  belief  it  de- 
sires. The  former  seldom  appears  in  the  schools,  the  latter 
goes  without  a  break  [from  the  schools]  to  the  law-court. 
The  former  gets  few  students,  the  latter  often  whole  peoples. 

3.  Before  they  come  to  the  explanation  of  the  Isagoge, 
philosophers  are  wont  to  give  a  definition  of  philosophy,  in 
order  that  the  things  which  concern  it  may  be  shown  more 
easily. 

Chapter  24.    On  the  definition  of  philosophy. 

1.  Philosophy  is  the  knowledge  of  things  human  and  divine, 
united  with  a  zeal  for  right  living.  It  seems  to  consist  of  two 
things,  knowledge  and  opinion. 

2.  It  is  knowledge  when  anything  is  known  with  definite- 
ness;  opinion,  when  a  thing  lurks  as  yet  in  uncertainty  and 
seems  in  no  way  established,  as  for  example,  whether  the  sun 
is  [only]  as  large  as  it  seems  or  greater  than  all  the  earth ; 
likewise  whether  the  moon  is  a  sphere  or  concave;  and 
whether  the  stars  adhere  to  the  heavens  or  pass  in  free  course 
through  the  air ;  of  what  size  the  heaven  itself  is  and  of  what 


117]  ^^'  DIALECTIC  1 1 7 

material  it  is  composed;  whether  it  is  quiet  and  motionless  or 
revolves  with  incredible  speed;  how  great  is  the  thickness  of 
the  earth,  or  on  what  foundations  it  continues  poised  and  sup- 
ported. 

3.  The  word  philosophy,  translated  into  Latin,  means  amor 
sapientiae.  For  the  Greeks  call  amor  ^lIov^  and  sapientiae 
aoipiav.  The  sub-division  of  philosophy  is  three-fold:  first, 
natural  philosophy,  which  in  Greek  is  called  physica,  in  which 
there  is  discussion  of  the  search  into  nature;  the  second, 
moral,  which  in  Greek  is  called  ethica,  in  which  the  subject  is 
morals ;  the  third,  rational,  which  in  the  Greek  is  called  logica, 
in  which  the  discussion  is  as  to  how  the  truth  itself  is  to  be 
sought  in  respect  to  the  causes  of  things  or  the  conduct  of  life. 

4.  In  physics,  then,  the  cause  of  inquiry,  in  ethics,  the 
manner  of  living,  in  logic,  the  method  of  understanding,  are 
concerned.  Among  the  Greeks,  Thales  of  Miletus,  one  of  the 
seven  wise  men,  was  the  first  to  search  into  natural  philosophy. 
For  this  man  first  regarded  with  contemplative  thought  the 
causes  of  the  heavens  and  the  force  of  the  things  of  nature. 
And  this  division  of  philosophy  Plato  afterward  divided  into 
four  separate  parts,  namely,  into  arithmetic,  geometry,  music, 
astronomy. 

5.  Socrates  first  established  ethics  with  a  view  to  correcting 
and  ordering  conduct,  and  he  devoted  all  his  attention  to  the 
discussion  of  right  living,  dividing  it  into  the  four  virtues  of 
the  soul,  namely,  wisdom,  justice,  fortitude,  temperance. 

6.  Wisdom  is  engaged  with  things,  and  by  it  the  evil  is  dis- 
tinguished from  the  good.     Fortitude,  by  which  adversity  is 
endured  with  calmness.    Temperance,  by  which  lust  and  con- 
cupiscence are  bridled.     Justice,  by  which  through  righteous    , 
judgment  his  own  is  rendered  to  each.  -^ 

7.  Plato  added  logical  philosophy,  which  is  called  rational, 
and  by  it  he  analyzed  the  causes  of  things  and  of  conduct,  and 
examined  their  force  in  a  rational  way,  dividing  it  into  dia- 
lectic and  rhetoric.  It  is  called  logical,  that  is,  rational,  for 
among  the  Greeks  Uyoq  means  both  word  and  reason. 

8.  The  divine  utterances  also  consist  of  these  three  kinds 


Il8  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [ng 

of  philosophy.  For  they  are  wont  to  discuss  nature,  as  in 
Genesis  or  Ecclesiastes ;  or  conduct,  as  in  Proverbs  and  here 
and  there  in  all  the  books;  or  logic,  instead  of  which  our 
[philosophers]  assert  the  claim  of  theology,^  as  in  the  Song 
of  Songs  or  the  Gospels. 

9.  Likewise  some  of  the  teachers  have  defined  philosophy 
in  its  name  and  parts  as  follows :  ''  Philosophy  is  the  probable 
knowledge  of  divine  and  human  affairs,  as  far  as  is  possible 
for  man."  Otherwise :  "  Philosophy  is  the  art  of  arts  and 
the  science  of  sciences."  Again :  "  Philosophy  is  the  medita- 
tion upon  death,  a  definition  which  better  suits  the  Christians, 
who  trampling  on  worldly  ambition,  live  in  the  intercourse  of 
learning  after  the  likeness  of  their  future  country." 

10.  Others  have  defined  the  scheme  of  philosophy  as  made 
up  of  two  parts,  of  which  the  former  is  contemplative,  the 
latter  practical.  The  contemplative  (inspectiva)  is  divided 
into  natural,  theoretical,  and  divine.  Theoretical  is  divided 
into  four  parts,  into  arithmetic,  music,  geometry,  and  astron- 
omy. 

11.  Practical  (actualis)  philosophy  is  divided  into  moral, 
economic,  and  civil.  Contemplative  is  the  name  given  that  in 
which,  passing  beyond  the  visible,  we  enjoy  some  contempla- 
tion of  the  divine  and  celestial,  and  behold  them  with  the 
mind  alone,  since  they  pass  beyond  the  bodily  gaze. 

12.  Natural  philosophy  is  the  name  given  when  the  nature 
of  each  and  every  thing  is  discussed,  since  nothing  arises  con- 
trary to  nature  in  life,  but  each  thing  is  assigned  to  those  uses 
for  which  it  was  purposed  by  the  Creator,  unless  perchance 
by  God's  will  it  is  shown  that  some  miracle  appears. 

13.  It  is  called  divine  philosophy  when  we  discuss  the  in- 
effable nature  of  God  or  the  spiritual  beings  that  are  in  some 
degree  of  a  lofty  nature. 

14.  The  science  which  considers  abstract  quantity  is  called 
theoretical.  For  that  is  called  abstract  quantity  which  we 
separate  from  the  material,  or  from  other  accidents,  by  the 

*  Du  Breul  has  theologia;  Arevalus,  theorica. 


119]  ON  DIALECTIC  II9 

intellect,  and  treat  by  reasoning  alone,  as  e.  g.,  equal,  unequal, 
and  other  matters  of  this  kind.  .  .  . 

16.  Further,  that  is  called  practical  philosophy  which  by  its 
workings  makes  problems  clear,  of  which  there  are  three 
parts,  moral,  economic,  and  civil.  That  is  called  moral  by 
which  an  honorable  custom  {mos)  of  living  is  sought  and 
practices  tending  to  virtue  are  established.  That  is  called 
economic  (dispensativa)  in  which  the  order  of  domestic  af- 
fairs is  wisely  arranged.  That  is  called  civil  by  which  the  ad- 
vantage of  a  whole  state  is  secured. 

Chapter  25.    On  the  Isagoges  of  Porphyry. 

1.  After  the  definitions  of  philosophy  in  which  all  things 
are  embraced  under  general  heads,  let  us  now  describe  the 
Isagoges  of  Porphyry.  Isagoge  in  the  Greek  means  intro- 
ductio  in  the  Latin,  being  meant  for  those,  it  is  plain,  who  are 
beginning  philosophy,  and  containing  an  explanation  of  first 
principles.  In  regard  to  anything  whatever  it  is  made  clear 
what  its  nature  is,  by  unfailing  definition  of  the  substance. 

2.  For  setting  down  first  the  genus,  then  the  species,  we 
subjoin  also  other  things  that  are  possibly  related,  and  by 
setting  aside  common  qualities  we  make  distinctions,  continu- 
ally interposing  differences  until  we  arrive  at  the  proper 
quality  of  that  which  we  are  examining,  its  meaning  being 
made  definite,  as,  for  example:  Homo  est  animal  rationale, 
mortale,  terrenum,  hipes,  risus  capax. 

3.  When  the  genus  animal  is  mentioned  the  substance  of 
man  is  declared.  For  with  reference  to  man  the  genus  is 
animal;  but  since  it  has  a  wide  application,  the  species,  terre- 
num, is  added  and  now  what  belongs  to  the  air  or  water  is 
excluded.  And  a  difference  is  added,  as,  for  example,  hipes, 
which  is  given  on  account  of  the  animals  that  go  on  several 
feet.  Likewise  rationale,  because  of  the  animals  which  lack 
reason ;  and  mortale,  because  man  is  not  an  angel. 

4.  Afterwards,  when  the  common  qualities  had  been  set 
aside,  the  property  was  added  at  the  end,  for  it  is  the  charac- 
teristic of  man  alone  to  laugh.  In  this  way  the  complete  defi- 
nition  to   indicate  man   was   reached.     Aristotle   and   TuUy 


120  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [120 

held  that  the  full  definition  of  this  science  consisted  of  genus 
and  differences. 

5.  Later  certain  authorities,  expressing  their  position  more 
fully,  in  their  teaching  divided  perfect  substantial  definition 
into  five  divisions,  as  if  into  five  organic  parts.  And  the  first 
of  these  deals  with  genus,  the  second  with  species,  the  third 
with  difference,  the  fourth  with  proper  quality,  the  fifth  with 
accident. 

Chapter  26.    On  the  categories  of  Aristotle. 

I.  Next  follow  the  categories  of  Aristotle,  which  in  Latin 
are  called  prae  die  amenta,  within  which  all  discourse  is  em- 
braced throughout  its  various  meanings. 

5.  There  are  ten  sorts  of  categories,  namely,  substantia, 
quantitas,  qualitas,  relatio,  situs,  locus,  tempus,  habitus,  agere, 
pati. 

15.  This  work  of  Aristotle  ought  to  be  read  with  attention, 
since,  as  has  been  observed,  whatever  man  speaks  is  included 
within  the  ten  categories.  It  will  help  also  to  the  understand- 
ing of  the  books  that  are  devoted  either  to  rhetoric  or  to  logic.^ 

Chapter  2y.    On  Interpretation  {de  P erihermeniis) . 

I.  There  follows  next  the  book  On  Interpretation,  which  is 
extremely  subtle  and  guarded  in  its  various  formulas  and 
repetitions,  of  which  it  is  said :  "  Aristotle  when  he  wrote  the 
Perihermeniae  dipped  his  pen  in  intellect." 

Chapter  28.     On  syllogisms. 

1.  Next  follow  the  syllogisms  of  dialectic,  wherein  the  ad- 
vantage and  excellence  of  that  whole  art  is  exhibited,  the  in- 
ferences of  which  greatly  aid  the  reader  in  searching  out  the 
truth,  so  that  the  common  error  of  deceiving  an  adversary  by 
the  sophisms  of  false  conclusions  disappears. 

2.  There  are  three  formulae  of  categorical  syllogisms.  To 
the  first  formula  belong  nine  modes.  .  .  . 

12.  To  the  second  formula  belong  four  modes.  .    .  . 

*  This  passage  is  copied  from  Cassiodorus  and  is  not  an  indication 
that  Isidore  had  read  the  work  of  Aristotle  that  is  mentioned. 


I2l]  ON  DIALECTIC  I2i 

1 6.  To  the  third  formula  belong  six  modes. 

22.  Let  him  who  desires  to  understand  fully  these  formulas 
of  the  categorical  syllogisms  read  the  book  entitled  Apuleii 
Perihermeniae,  and  he  will  learn  matters  that  are  treated  with 
subtlety.^  And  by  their  clearness  and  well-weighed  character 
they  will  introduce  the  reader  advantageously  with  God's  help 
to  great  paths  of  understanding.  Now  let  us  come  to  the 
hypothetical  syllogisms  in  order. 

23-25.  The  modes  of  the  hypothetical  syllogisms  that  have 
a  conclusion  are  seven.  ...  If  anyone  desires  to  know  more 
fully  the  modes  of  the  hypothetical  syllogisms  let  him  read 
Marius  Victorinus'  book  entitled  De  Syllogismis  Hypothe- 
ticis.^ 

26.  Next  let  us  approach  the  topic  of  dialectical  definitions, 
which  have  such  surpassing  worth  that  they  may  rightly  be 
called  the  clear  manifestations  of  speech,  and  in  a  sense  the 
guides  to  expression. 

Chapter  29.  On  the  division  of  definitions,  abbreviated  from 
the  book  of  Marius  Victorinus. 

I.  The  definition  of  the  philosophers  is  that  which  in  de- 
scribing things  sets  forth  what  the  thing  in  itself  is — not,  of 
what  sort  it  is — and  how  it  ought  to  be  made  up  of  its  parts. 
For  it  is  a  brief  statement  separating  the  nature  of  each  thing 
from  its  class,  and  marking  it  off  by  its  peculiar  meaning. 
Definitions  are  divided  into  fifteen  sorts.  The  first  kind  of 
definition  is  the  substantial  (ovfffti^),  which  is  named  definition 
in  the  proper  and  true  sense,  as,  for  example.  Est  homo  animal 
rationale,  mortale,  risus  disciplinaeque  capax.  This  defini- 
tion descends  through  species  and  differences  and  comes  to 
the  property,  and  expresses  most  fully  what  man  is. 

16.  Now  let  us  come  to  the  to  pica,  which  are  the  seats  of 
arguments,  the  fountains  of  ideas,  and  the  sources  of  speech. 

Chapter  30.    On  the  topics. 

I.  Topica  is  the  science  of  finding  arguments.    The  division 

*  A  recommendation  copied  word  for  word  from  Cassiodorus. 


122  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [122 

of  the  topica  or  the  loci  from  which  arguments  are  derived  is 
three-fold.  For  some  inhere  in  the  very  thing  that  is  under 
discussion;  there  are  others,  called  affecta  (closely  connected), 
which  are  known  to  be  derived  in  a  certain  sense  from  other 
things;  others,  which  are  taken  from  outside  [the  subject].  .  . 
18.  It  is  clearly  a  wonderful  thing  that  whatever  the  nimble- 
ness  and  variety  of  the  human  mind  could  discover,  searching 
for  ideas  in  different  cases,  could  have  been  gathered  into 
unity;  that  free  and  spontaneous  intelligence  is  limited.  For 
wherever  it  turns,  whatever  thoughts  it  enters  on,  the  mind 
must  fall  upon  some  of  those  that  have  been  described. 


BOOK  III 

On  the  Four  Mathematical  Sciences 

ON  ARITHMETIC 

INTRODUCTION 

In  examining  Isidore's  De  Arithnietica  two  peculiarities 
of  the  development  of  the  subject  should  be  borne  in  mind. 
In  the  first  place,  the  predominant  position  among  the 
mathematical  sciences  which  Isidore  claims  for  arithmetic 
was  one  acquired  by  it  comparatively  late.  Owing  perhaps 
to  the  awkwardness  of  the  Greek  notation  of  number  ^ 
geometry  had  been  developed  first,  and  historically  arith- 
metic was  an  off-shoot  fr(5m  geometry  and  borrowed  its 
terminology  largely  from  it.^  It  was  not  given  an  inde- 
pendent form  until  the  time  of  NicomacHus  (fl.  lOO  A.  D.) 
whose  Introductio  Arithmetica  was  "  the  first  exhaustive 
work  in  which  arithmetic  was  treated  quite  independently 
of  geometry."  ^  Once  it  become  independent,  arithmetic, 
instead  of  geometry,  came  to  be  regarded  as  the  funda- 
mental mathemetical  science.  The  old  tradition  is  reflected 
in  Martianus  Capella's  order  of  subjects,  in  which  geom- 

*  "  The  cumulative  evidence  is  surely  very  strong  that  the  alphabetic 
numerals  were  first  employed  in  Alexandria  early  in  the  third  cen- 
tury B.  C."  J.  Gow,  A  Short  History  of  Greek  Mathematics  (Cam- 
bridge, 1884),  p.  48. 

'  We  have  in  Isidore,  for  example,  the  terms  numerus  trigonus, 
nunterus  quadratus,  numerus  quinquangulus,  and  linealis,  superficialis, 
and  circularis  numerus. 

•  Cajori,  Hist,  of  Math.,  p.  72. 

123]  123 


124  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [124 

etry  is  placed  first  and  arithmetic  second,  while  the  newer 
tradition  is  seen  in  the  order  of  Cassiodorus  and  Isidore, 
who  both  have  passages  also  emphasizing  the  fundamental 
character  of  arithmetic. 

The  second  peculiarity  is  one  which  will  surprise  the 
modern  reader  who  is  familiar  with  arithmetic  as  a  utili- 
tarian study.  The  ancient  arithmetica  had  nothing  to  do 
with  the  art  of  reckoning,  which  was  called  logistica.^  The 
science  and  the  art  of  numbers  were  completely  divorced 
and  the  latter  was  excluded  from  the  higher  education  as 
we  have  it  in  the  seven  liberal  arts.  Consequently  we  can 
expect  nothing  practical  in  Isidore's  De  Arithmetica.  Noth- 
ing is  said  of  methods  of  calculation,  elementary  or  ad- 
vanced, and,  as  a  matter  of  course,  nothing  is  to  be  found 
here  on  such  topics  as  the  use  of  the  abacus  ^  or  the  method 
of  computing  Easter,  though  the  latter  was  the  greatest 
mathematical  problem  of  the  time. 

Isidore's  source  in  the  De  Arithmetica  was  Cassiodorus,^ 
whom  he  copies  with  little  change;  while  Cassiodorus' 
work  was  apparently  a  bare  abstract  of  Boethius'  transla- 
tion of  Nicomachus.  Isidore's  account  is  of  great  brevity 
and  contains  a  number  of  unexplained  technical  terms. 

*  Gow,  speaking  of  the  Greek  dpid/ivriK^j  says :  "  Its  aim  was  entirely 
different  from  that  of  the  ordinary  calculator,  and  it  was  natural  that 
the  philosopher  who  sought  in  numbers  to  find  the  plan  on  which  the 
creator  worked,  should  begin  to  regard  with  contempt  the  merchant 
who  wanted  only  to  know  how  many  sardines  at  ten  for  an  obol  he 
could  buy  for  a  talent."     Gow,  op.  cit.,  p.  72. 

'  Cantor  believes  that  the  use  of  the  abacus  had  been  forgotten 
before  Isidore's  time,  cf.  "  calculator  a  calculis,  id  est  a  lapillis  minutis 
quos  antiqui  in  manu  tenentes  numeros  componebant."  Etym.,  10, 
43,  See  Cantor,  Vorlesungen  uber  Geschichte  der  Mathematik  (Leip- 
zig, 1894-1900),  vol.  i,  p.  774- 

'  Isidore  adds  to  the  account  as  found  in  Cassiodorus  a  few  remarks 
about  numbers  in  the  Scriptures,  some  derivations  of  numbers,  and 
the  sections  on  the  means  and  on  infinity. 


125]        ON  THE  FOUR  MATHEMATICAL  SCIENCES  125 

EXTRACTS 

Preface.  Mathematics  is  called  in  Latin  doctrinalis  scientia. 
It  considers  abstract  quantity.  For  that  is  abstract  quantity 
which  we  treat  by  reason  alone,  separating  it  by  the  intellect 
from  the  material  or  from  other  non-essentials,  as  for  example, 
equal,  unequal,  or  the  like.  And  there  are  four  sorts  of  math- 
ematics, namely,  arithmetic,  geometry,  music  and  astronomy. 
Arithmetic  is  the  science  of  numerical  quantity  in  itself. 
Geometry  is  the  science  of  magnitude  and  forms.^  Music  is 
the  science  that  treats  of  numbers  that  are  found  in  sounds. 
Astronomy  is  the  science  that  contemplates  the  courses  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  and  their  figures,  and  all  the  phenomena  of 
the  stars.  These  sciences  we  shall  next  describe  at  a  little 
greater  length  in  order  that  their  significance  may  be  fully 
shown. 

Chapter  i.     On  the  name  of  the  science  of  arithmetic. 

1.  Arithmetic  is  the  science  of  numbers.  For  the  Greeks 
call  number  apiOfioc  The  writers  of  secular  literature  have  de- 
cided that  it  is  first  among  the  mathematical  sciences  since 
it  needs  no  other  science  for  its  own  existence. 

2.  But  music  and  geometry  and  astronomy,  which  follow, 
need  its  aid  in  order  to  be  and  exist. 

Chapter  2.    On  the  writers. 

I.  They  say  that  Pythagoras  was  the  first  among  the  Greeks 
to  write  of  the  science  of  number,  and  that  it  was  later  de- 
scribed more  fully  by  Nicomachus,  whose  work  Apuleius  first, 
and  then  Boethius,  translated  into  Latin. 

Chapter  3.    What  number  is. 

I.  Number  is  multitude  made  up  of  units.  For  one  is  the 
seed  of  number  but  not  number.  Nummus  (coin)  gave  its 
name  to  numerus  (number),  and  from  being  frequently  used 
originated  the  word. 

1  Du  Breul  has  magnitudmis  et  formarum;  Arevalo,  magnitudinis 
formarum. 


126  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [126 

Unus  derives  its  name  from  the  Greek,  for  the  Greeks 
call  unus  iva^  likewise  duo,  tria,  which  they  call  Sho  and  rpia. 

2.  Quattuor  took  its  name  from  a  square  figure  (figura 
quadrat  a).  Quinque,  however,  received  its  name  from  one 
who  gave  the  names  to  numbers  not  according  to  nature  but 
according  to  whim.    Sex  and  septem  come  from  the  Greek. 

3.  For  in  many  names  that  are  aspirated  in  Greek  we  use 
s  instead  of  the  aspiration.  We  have  sex  for  i^,  septem  for 
fTrra,  and  also  the  word  serpillum  (thyme)  for  herpillum. 
Octo  is  borrowed  without  change;  they  have t-vwa^  we  novem; 
they  d£/ca,  we  decern. 

4.  Decern  is  so-called  from  a  Greek  etymology,  because  it 
ties  together  and  unites  the  numbers  below  it.  For  to  tie 
together  and  unite  is  called  among  them  deafievetv.^ 

Chapter  4.    What  numbers  signify. 

I.  The  science  of  number  must  not  be  despised.  For  in 
many  passages  of  the  holy  scriptures  it  is  manifest  what  great 
mystery  they  contain.  For  it  is  not  said  in  vain  in  the  praises 
of  God :  "  Omnia  in  mensura  et  numero  et  pondere  f  ecisti." 
For  the  senarius,  which  is  perfect  in  respect  to  its  parts,^  de- 
clares the  perfection  of  the  universe  by  a  certain  meaning  of 
its  number.  In  like  manner,  too,  the  forty  days  which  Moses 
and  Elias  and  the  Lord  himself  fasted,  are  not  understood 
without  an  understanding  of  number. 

3.  So,  too,  other  numbers  appear  in  the  holy  scriptures 
whose  natures  none  but  experts  in  this  art  can  wisely  declare 
the  meaning  of.  It  is  granted  to  us,  too,  to  depend  in  some 
part  upon  the  science  of  numbers,  since  we  learn  the  hours 
by  means  of  it,  reckon  the  course  of  the  months,  and  learn  the 
time  of  the  returning  year.  Through  number,  indeed,  we  are 
instructed  in  order  not  to  be  confounded.  Take  number  from 
all  things  and  all  things  perish.     Take  calculation  from  the 

*  This  derivation  points  to  a  soft  c  in  decern. 

'  Six  was  regarded  as  a  perfect  number,  because  it  is  equal  to  the 
sum  of  all  its  factors. 


127]        ON  THE  FOUR  MATHEMATICAL  SCIENCES  127 

world  and  all  is  enveloped  in  dark  ignorance,  nor  can  he  who 
does  not  know  the  way  to  reckon  be  distinguished  from  the 
rest  of  the  animals. 

Chapter  5.    On  the  first  division  into  even  and  odd. 

1.  Number  is  divided  into  even  and  odd.  Even  number  is 
divided  into  the  following:  evenly  even,  evenly  uneven,  and 
unevenly  even,  and  unevenly  uneven.^  Odd  number  is  divided 
into  the  following:  prime  and  uncompounded,  compounded, 
and  a  third  class  which  comes  between  (mediocris)  which  in 
a  certain  way  is  prime  and  uncompounded,  but  in  another  way 
secondary  and  compounded. 

2.  An  even  number  is  that  which  can  be  divided  into  two 
equal  parts,  as  II,  IV,  VIII. ^  An  odd  number  is  that  which 
cannot  be  divided  into  equal  parts,  there  being  one  in  the 
middle  which  is  either  too  little  or  too  much,  as  III,  V,  VII, 
IX,  and  so  on. 

3.  Evenly  even  number  is  that  which  is  divided  equally  into 
even  number,  until  it  comes  to  indivisible  unity,  as  for  ex- 
ample, LXIV  has  a  half  XXXII,  this  again  XVI ;  XVI,  VIII ; 
VIII,  IV ;  IV,  II ;  II,  I,  which  is  single  and  indivisible. 

4.  Evenly  uneven  is  that  which  admits  of  division  into 
equal  parts,  but  its  parts  soon  remain  indivisible,  as  VI,  X, 
XVIII,  XXX,  and  L,  for  presently,  when  you  divide  such  a 
number,  you  run  upon  a  number  which  you  cannot  halve. 

5.  Unevenly  even  number  is  that  whose  halves  can  be  di- 
vided again,  but  do  not  go  on  to  unity,  as  XXIV.  For  this 
number  being  divided  in  half  makes  XII,  divided  again  VI, 
and  again,  III ;  and  this  part  does  not  admit  of  further  divi- 
sion, but  before  unity  a  limit  is  found  which  you  cannot  halve. 

6.  Unevenly  uneven  is  that  which  is  measured  unevenly  by 
an  uneven  number,  as   XXV,   XLIX ;  which,  being  uneven 

*  Pariter  par,  et  pariter  impar,  et  impariter  par  et  impariter  impar. 
Since  these  all  profess  to  be  divisions  of  even  number,  the  word  odd  is 
not  used  in  the  translation. 

'  To  remind  the  reader  of  Isidore's  notation  Roman  numerals  are 
kept  wherever  he  used  them. 


128  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [128 

numbers,  are  divided  also  by  uneven  factors,  as,  seven  times 
seven,  XLIX,  and  five  times  five,  XXV.  Of  odd  numbers 
some  are  prime,  some  compounded,  some  mean  (mediocris). 

7.  Prime  numbers  are  those  which  have  no  other  factor  ex- 
cept unity  alone,  as  three  has  only  a  third,  five  only  a  fifth, 
seven  only  a  seventh,  for  these  have  only  one  factor. 

Compound  numbers  are  they  which  are  not  only  measured 
by  unity,  but  are  produced  by  another  number,  as  IX,  XV, 
XXI,  XXV.  For  we  say  three  times  three  are  nine,  and  seven 
times  three  are  XXI,  and  three  times  five  are  XV,  and  five 
times  five  are  XXV. 

8.  Mean  (mediocris)  numbers  are  those  which  in  a  certain 
fashion  seem  prime  and  uncompounded  and  in  another  fashion 
secondary  and  compounded.  For  example,  when  IX  is  com- 
pared with  XXV,  it  is  prime  and  uncompounded,  because  it 
has  no  common  factor  except  unity  alone,  but  if  it  is  com- 
pared with  XV  it  is  secondary  and  compounded,  since  there 
is  in  it  a  common  factor  in  addition  to  unity,  that  is,  III. 
Because  three  times  three  make  nine,  and  three  times  five 
make  fifteen.^ 

9.  Likewise  of  even  numbers  some  are  excessive,  others 
defective,  others  perfect.^  Excessive  are  those  whose  factors 
being  added  together  exceed  its  total,  as  for  example,  XII. 
For  it  has  five  factors :  a  twelfth,  which  is  one ;  a  sixth,  which 
is  two ;  a  fourth,  which  is  three ;  a  third,  which  is  four ;  a  half, 
which  is  six.  For  one  and  two  and  three  and  four  and  six 
being  added  together  make  XVI,  which  is  far  in  excess  of 
twelve.  .  .  . 

10.  Defective  numbers  are  those  which  being  reckoned  by 
their  factors  make  a  less  total,  as  for  example,  ten.  .  .  . 

11.  The  perfect  number  is  that  which  is  equalled  by  its 
factors,  as  VI.  .  .  .  The  perfect  numbers  are,  under  ten,  VI ; 
under  a  hundred,  XXVIII ;  under  a  thousand,  CCCCXCVI. 

^  The  division  into  even,  odd,  and  numbers  sharing  the  characteris- 
tics of  even  and  odd  numbers  goes  back  to  Nicomachus.  It  is  not  a 
logical  division,  as  the  second  class  contains  the  third.     See  Gow,  p.  90. 

'  SuperUui,  ditninuti,  perfecH. 


129]        ^^'  ^^^  FOUR  MATHEMATICAL  SCIENCES  129 

Chapter  6.    On  the  second  division  of  all  number. 

I.  All  number  is  considered  either  with  reference  to  itself 
or  in  relation  to  something.  The  former  is  divided  as  follows : 
some  are  equal,  as  for  example,  two;  others  are  unequal,  as 
for  example,  three.^  The  latter  is  divided  as  follows :  some  are 
greater,  some  are  less.  The  greater  are  divided  as  follows: 
into  multiplices  (multiple),  superparticulares,  superpartientes, 
multiplices  superparticulares,  multiplices  superpartientes.  The 
less  are  divided  as  follows:  Suh-multiplices  (sub-multiple), 
suh-superparticulares,  suh-superpartientes,  suh-multiplices 
suh-superparticulares ,  suh-multiplices  suh-superpartientes. 

6.  .  .  .  The  superparticularis  numerus  is  when  a  greater 
number  contains  in  itself  a  lesser  number  with  which  it  is 
compared,  and  at  the  same  time  one  part  of  it. 

7.  For  example;  III  when  compared  with  II  contains  in 
itself  two  and  also  one,  which  is  the  half  of  two.  IV  when 
compared  with  III,  contains  three  and  also  one,  which  is  the 
third  of  three.  Likewise  V,  when  compared  with  IV,  contains 
the  number  four  and  also  one,  which  is  the  fourth  part  of  the 
said  number  four,  and  so  on. 

8.  The  superpartiens  numerus  is  that  which  contains  the 
whole  of  a  lesser  number  and  in  addition  two  parts  of  it, 
either  thirds  or  fifths  or  other  parts.  For  example,  when  V 
is  compared  with  III,  the  number  five  contains  three  and  in 
addition  to  this  two  parts  of  it. 

Chapter  7.    On  the  third  division  of  all  number. 

1.  Numbers  are  abstract  or  concrete.  The  latter  are  divided 
as  follows:  first,  lineal;  second,  superficial;  third,  solid.  Ab- 
stract number  is  that  which  is  made  up  of  abstract  units.  For 
example,  III,  IV,  V,  VI,  and  so  on. 

2.  Concrete  number  is  that  which  is  made  up  of  units  that 
are  not  abstract,  as  for  example,  the  number  three,  if  it  is 
understood  of  magnitude,  whether  line,  superficies,  or  solid, 
is  called  concrete. 

*  The  examples  are  found  in  Du  Breul.  They  do  not  appear  in 
Arevalo. 


130  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [j^O 

4.  The  number  of  superficies  is  that  which  is  constituted 
not  only  by  length  but  also  by  breadth,  as  triangular,  square, 
pentangular,  or  circular  numbers,  and  the  rest  that  are  con- 
tained in  a  plane  surface  or  superficies. 

5.  The  circular  number,  when  it  is  multiplied  by  itself,  be- 
ginning with  itself,  ends  with  itself.  For  example,  Quinquies 
quini  vicies  quinque. 

6.  .  .  .  The  spherical  number  is  that  which  being  multi- 
plied by  the  circular  number  begins  with  itself  and  ends  with 
itself;  for  example,  five  times  five  are  twenty-five,  and  this 
circle  being  multiplied  by  itself  makes  a  sphere,  that  is,  five 
times  XXV  make  CXXV. 

Chapter  8.     On  the  distinction  between  arithmetic,  geometry, 
and  music. 

1.  Between  arithmetic,  geometry  and  music  there  is  a  dif- 
ference in  finding  the  means.  In  arithmetic  in  the  first  place 
you  find  it  in  this  way.  You  add  the  extremes  and  divide 
and  find  the  half;  as  for  example,  suppose  the  extremes  are 
VI  and  XII,  you  add  them  and  they  make  XVIII.  You  divide 
and  get  IX,  which  is  the  mean  of  arithmetic  (analogicum 
arithmetic ae)  f  since  the  mean  is  surpassed  by  the  last  by  as 
many  units  as  it  surpasses  the  first.  For  IX  surpasses  VI  by 
three  units,  and  XII  surpasses  it  by  the  same  number. 

2.  According  to  geometry  you  find  it  this  way.  The  ex- 
tremes multiplied  together  make  as  much  as  the  means  mul- 
tiplied, for  example,  VI  and  XII  multiplied  make  LXXII ; 
the  means  VIII  and  IX  multiplied  make  the  same. 

3.  According  to  music  you  find  it  in  this  way :  The  mean  is 
exceeded  by  the  last  term  by  the  part  by  which  it  exceeds  the 
first  term,  as  for  example,  VI  is  surpassed  by  VIII  by  two 
units,  which  is  a  third  part,  and  by  the  same  part  the  mean 
VIII  is  surpassed  by  the  last  term  which  is  XII. 

Chapter  9.    That  infinite  numbers  exist. 

I.  It  is  most  certain  that  there  are  infinite  numbers,  since 
at  whatever  number  you  think  an  end  must  be  made  I  say  not 
only  that  it  can  be  increased  by  the  addition  of  one,  but,  how- 


131]        ON  THE  FO  UR  MA  THEM  A  TICAL  SCIENCES  1 3 1 

ever  great  it  is,  and  however  large  a  multitude  it  contains,  by 
the  very  method  and  science  of  numbers  it  can  not  only  be 
doubled  but  even  multiplied. 

2.  Each  number  is  limited  by  its  own  proper  qualities,  so 
that  no  one  of  them  can  be  equal  to  any  other.  Therefore  in 
relation  to  one  another  they  are  unequal  and  diverse,  and  the 
separate  numbers  are  each  finite,  and  all  are  infinite. 


ON  GEOMETRY 

INTRODUCTION 

In  spite  of  the  high  development  of  geometry  among  the 
Greeks  it  never  took  root  as  a  pure  science  in  the  western 
Roman  world,^  and  neither  the  various  practical  applica- 
tions of  its  principles  nor  its  use  as  a  disciplinary  educa- 
tional subject  sufficed  to  fasten  thoughtful  attention  upon 
it;  in  consequence,  it  lost  almost  its  entire  content.  As  it 
appears  in  the  four  writers  who  treat  of  it  in  later  Roman 
and  early  medieval  times,  Martianus  Capella,  Boethius,^ 
Cassiodorus,  and  Isidore,  it  furnishes  a  striking  commen- 
tary upon  the  intellectual  conservatism  that  could  retain 
without  a  suspicion  of  criticism  a  subject  that  was  no 
longer  anything  but  empty  form. 

The  substance  of  Isidore's  De  Geometria  comes  with 
little  change  from  Cassiodorus.  It  is  noteworthy  that  these 
two  writers  have  nothing  that  does  not  go  with  the  subject 
according  to  the  modern  conception  of  it,  and  do  not 
follow  the  example  of  their  predecessor  Martianus  Capella,^ 

*  Cantor,  Vorlesungen  iiber  Geschichte  der  Mathematik,  vol.  i,  p.  521. 

'  The  authenticity  of  the  work  on  geometry  that  has  been  handed 
down  under  Boethius'  name  is  questioned.  (See  Cantor,  ibid.,  pp. 
536  et  seq.)  It  contains  the  complete  proof  of  only  three  of  Euclid's 
propositions.  It  also  contains  calculations  of  areas  of  geometrical 
figures.     See  edition  of  Friedlein  (Leipzig,  1867). 

'  Cf.   Martianus   Capella's   definition :   "  Geometria  vocor   quod  per- 


132  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [132 

in  whose  acount  of  the  seven  liberal  arts  the  void  caused 
by  the  loss  of  the  proper  content  of  geometry  is  filled  with 
geography. 

TRANSLATION  ^ 

Book  III,  Chapter  10.    On  the  inventors  of  geometry  and  its 
name. 

1.  The  science  of  geometry  is  said  to  have  been  discovered 
first  by  the  Egyptians,  because  when  the  Nile  overflowed  and 
all  their  lands  were  overspread  with  mud,  its  origin  in  the 
division  of  the  land  by  lines  and  measurements  gave  the  name 
to  the  art.  And  later,  being  carried  further  by  the  keenness 
of  the  philosophers,  it  measured  the  spaces  of  the  sea,  the 
heavens,  and  the  air. 

2.  For,  having  their  attention  aroused,  students  began  to 
search  into  the  spaces  of  the  heavens,  after  measuring  the 
earth;  how  far  the  moon  was  from  the  earth,  the  sun  itself 
from  the  moon,  and  how  great  a  measure  extended  to  the 
summit  of  the  sky ;  and  thus  they  laid  off  in  numbers  of  stades 
with  probable  reason  the  very  distances  of  the  sky  and  the  cir- 
cuit of  the  earth. 

3.  But  since  this  science  arose  from  the  measuring  of  the 
earth,  it  took  its  name  also  from  its  beginning.  For  geometria 
is  so  named  from  the  earth  and  measuring.  For  the  earth 
is  called  yrj  in  Greek,  and  measuring,  nEvpov.  The  art  ^  of  this 
science  embraces  lines,  intervals,  magnitudes,  and  figures,  and 
in  figures,  dimensions  and  numbers. 

meatam  crebro  admensamque  tellurem  eiusque  figuram,  magnitudinem, 
locum,  partes  et  stadia  possim  cum  suis  rationibus  explicare  neque 
uUa  sit  in  totius  terrae  diversitate  partitio  quam  non  memoris  cursu 
descriptionis  absolvam."    Eyssenhardt,  198,  30. 

*  The  whole  of  Isidore's  De  Geometria  is  here  given,  with  the  ex- 
ception of  a  few  passages  that  are  untranslatable.  It  is  given  as  a 
whole  to  enforce  attention  to  the  loss  of  the  traditional  content,  partial 
or  complete,  which  was  so  striking  a  feature  of  all  the  members  of 
the  quadrivium  in  early  medieval  times. 

*Hujus  ars  disciplinae.    Ars  may  be  equal  to  'hand-book'  here. 


133]        ^^'  ^^^  FOUR  MATHEMATICAL  SCIENCES  133 

Chapter  11.    On  the  four-fold  division  of  geometry. 

1.  The  four-fold  division  of  geometry  is  into  plane  figures, 
numerical  magnitude,  rational  magnitude,  and  solid  figures. 

2.  Plane  figures  are  those  which  are  contained  by  length 
and  breadth.  Numerical  magnitude  is  that  which  can  be  di- 
vided by  the  numbers  of  arithmetic. 

3.  Rational  magnitudes  are  those  whose  measures  we  can 
know,  and  irrational,  those  the  amount  of  whose  measurement 
is  not  known. 

4.  Solid  figures  are  those  that  are  contained  by  length, 
breadth,  and  thickness,  which  are  five  in  number,  according 
to  Plato. 

Chapter  12.    On  the  figures  of  geometry. 

1.  The  first  of  the  figures  on  a  plane  surface  is  the  circle, 
a  figure  that  is  plane,  and  has  a  circumference,  in  the  middle 
of  which  is  a  point  upon  which  everything  converges  (cuncta 
convergunt)  which  geometers  call  the  center,  and  the  Latins 
call  the  point  of  the  circle. 

2.  A  quadrilateral  figure  is  one  on  a  plane  surface,  and  it 
is  contained  by  four  straight  lines.  .  .  . 

3.  A  sphere  is  a  figure  of  rounded  form  equal  in  all  its 
parts. 

A  cube  is  a  solid  figure  which  is  contained  by  length, 
breadth,  and  thickness. 

5.  A  cone  (conon)  is  a  solid  figure  which  narrows  from  a 
broad  base  like  the  right-angled  triangle. 

6.  A  pyramid  is  a  solid  figure  which  narrows  to  a  point 
from  a  broad  base  like  fire.    For  fire  in  Greek  is  called  Trvp, 

7.  Just  as  all  number  is  contained  within  ten  so  the  outline 
of  every  figure  is  contained  within  the  circle. 

Chapter  13.    On  the  first  principles  of  geometry. 

I.  ...  A  point  is  that  which  has  no  part.  A  line  is  length 
without  breadth.  A  straight  line  is  one  which  lies  evenly  in 
respect  to  its  points.  A  superficies  is  that  which  has  length 
and  breadth  alone. 


134  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [134 

Chapter  14.    On  the  numbers  of  geometry. 

I.  You  search  into  the  numbers  of  geometry  as  follows :  the 
extremes  being  multiplied,  amount  to  as  much  as  the  means 
multiplied;  as  for  example,  VI  and  XII  being  multiplied, 
make  LXXII;  the  means  VIII  and  IX  being  multiplied, 
amount  to  the  same. 

ON  MUSIC 

INTRODUCTION 

As  an  educational  subject  music  is  the  oldest  of  those 
grouped  under  the  heading  of  the  seven  liberal  arts.  In 
Plato's  time  music  and  gymnastic  were  the  staples  of  edu- 
cation, and  the  former  term  meant  chiefly  the  study  of 
poetry,  with  music  in  the  proper  sense  of  the  word  as  a 
mere  adjunct.  As  the  different  subjects,  such  as  grammar, 
rhetoric,  geometry,  arithmetic,  appeared  in  the  curriculum, 
the  field  of  music  narrowed  and  it  held  a  less  commanding 
place.  Conflicting  points  of  view  in  regard  to  it  appear  to 
have  arisen.  The  older  educational  tradition  connected  music 
with  grammar  and  the  other  literary  studies.  On  the  other 
hand,  the  influence  of  the  Pythagorean  theory  of  number 
and  of  its  application  to  music  tended  to  dissociate  gram- 
mar and  music,  and  to  place  the  latter  in  relation  to  the 
mathematical  sciences.  It  has  been  noticed  that  among  the 
older  Roman  writers  from  whom  evidence  on  this  matter 
can  be  drawn — Cicero,  Varro,  Seneca,  Quintilian,  and 
others — the  association  of  music  and  grammar  appears  the 
natural  one,  while  in  the  Roman  writers  of  the  second, 
third,  and  fourth  centuries  both  traditions  prevail,  with  an 
increasing  preference  for  placing  music  among  the  mathe- 
matical sciences,  where  it  finally  found  itself  when  the 
canon  of  the  seven  liberal  arts  was  formed,  and  where  it 
remained  to  the  end  of  the  middle  ages.^ 

1  Schmidt,    Questiones   de    musicis   scriptoribus   Romanis,    imprimis 


135]        ^^  ^^^  FOUR  MATHEMATICAL  SCIENCES          135 

In  Isidore  little  is  to  be  found  to  justify  the  mathemati- 
cal environment  of  music.  It  is  true  that  at  times  he  de- 
fines it  as  a  mathematical  science  ^  and  he  insists  on  the 
musical  view  of  the  universe  as  a  necessary  complement  to 
other  views.  "  Without  music,"  he  says,  "  there  can  be  no 
perfect  knowledge,  for  there  is  nothing  without  it.  For 
even  the  universe  itself  is  said  to  have  been  formed  under 
the  guidance  of  harmony."  ^  But,  with  the  exception  of  a 
paragraph  on  the  musical  mean,  his  treatment  is  entirely 
taken  up  with  the  non-mathematical  aspect  of  the  subject, 
and  the  definition  "  music  is  the  practical  knowledge  of 
melody  '"  ^  is  the  one  that  more  closely  fits  the  occasion. 

The  treatment  *  of  music  is  of  about  the  same  length  as 

de  Cassiodoro  et  Isidoro  (Darmstadt,  1899).  This  dissertation  is  in 
part  an  examination  of  the  question  whether  the  Roman  writers  asso- 
ciated music  with  grammar  or  the  mathematical  sciences  in  their 
enumerations  of  educational  subjects.  It  contains  a  useful  list  of 
passages  bearing  on  the  seven  liberal  arts. 

*  Five  definitions  of  music  are  given  by  Isidore,  two  making  no 
allusion  to  its  mathematical  character.     They  are  as  follows: 

"  Musica  est  peritia  modulationis  sono  cantuque  consistens."    Etym., 

3,  15,  I. 

"  Musica  est  disciplina  quae  de  numeris  loquitur  qui  inveniuntur  in 
sonis."    Etym.,  3,  Preface. 

"Musica  est  disciplina  quae  de  numeris  loquitur  qui  ad  aliquid  sunt 
his  qui  inveniuntur  in  sonis."    Etym.,  2,  24,  15. 

"  Musica  quae  in  carminibus  cantibusque  consistit."    Etym.,  i,  2,  2. 

"  Musica  est  ars  spectabilis  voce  vel  gestu,  habens  in  se  numerorum 
ac  soni  certam  dimensionem  cum  scientia  perfectae  modulationis. 
Haec  constat  ex  tribus  modis,  id  est,  sono,  verbis,  numeris."  Diif., 
ii,  cap.  39. 

»  Etym.,  3,  17,  I.  »  Etym.,  3,  15,  i. 

*  C.  Schmidt,  op.  cit.,  after  a  detailed  comparison  of  passages,  con- 
cludes that  Isidore  did  not  obtain  his  material  for  De  Musica  from 
Cassiodorus  or  Augustine,  but  that  all  three  go  back  independently  to 
an  original  work  produced  by  an  unknown  Christian  writer.  How- 
ever, the  numerous  identical  passages  in  Cassiodorus  and  Isidore 
would  indicate  that  the  latter  had  used  the  former  at  least  as  a  guide 
in  plagiarism.  See  Schmidt,  pp.  26-52,  and  compare  Dressel,  de  Isidori 
Originum  Fontibus  (Turin,  1874),  PP-  5  and  6. 


136  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [135 

that  of  arithmetic,  and  is  devoted  mainly  to  definitions  of 
musical  terms  and  brief  descriptions  of  wind  and  stringed 
instruments.  It  appears  that  Isidore  knew  nothing  of 
music  in  a  technical  sense.  ^ 


EXTRACTS 

Book  III,  Chapter  15.    On  music  and  its  name. 

1.  Music  is  the  practical  knowledge  of  melody,  consisting 
of  sound  and  song;  and  it  is  called  music  by  derivation 
from  the  Muses.  And  the  Muses  were  so-called  a-nb  rov  fioxjBai, 
that  is,  from  inquiring,  because  it  was  by  them,  as  the  ancients 
had  it,  that  the  potency  of  songs  and  the  melody  of  the  voice 
were  inquired  into. 

2.  Since  sound  is  a  thing  of  sense  it  passes  along  into  past 
time,  and  it  is  impressed  on  the  memory.  From  this  it  was 
pretended  by  the  poets  that  the  Muses  were  the  daughters  of 
Jupiter  and  Memory.  For  unless  sounds  are  held  in  the 
memory  by  man  they  perish,  because  they  cannot  be  written. 

Chapter  16.    On  its  discoverers. 

1.  Moses  says  that  the  discoverer  of  the  art  of  music  was 
Jubal,  who  was  of  the  family  of  Cain  and  lived  before  the 
flood.  But  the  Greeks  say  that  Pythagoras  discovered  the 
beginnings  of  this  art  from  the  sound  of  hammers  and  the 
striking  of  tense  cords.  Others  assert  that  Linus  of  Thebes, 
and  Zethus,  and  Amphion,  were  the  first  to  win  fame  in  the 
musical  art. 

2.  After  whose  time  this  science  in  particular  wfts<gradually 
established  and  enlarged  in  many  ways,  and  it  was  as  disgrace- 
ful to  be  ignorant  of  music  as  of  letters.    And  it  had  a  place 

*  Woodridge  in  the  Oxford  History  of  Music  (Oxford,  1901),  vol. 
i,  P-  33,  note,  says  of  Isidore's  de  Musica,  that  it  "  clearly  reveals  the 
complete  ignorance  of  his  time.  His  dicta  upon  music  are  chiefly 
crude  and  misleading  paraphrases  from  Cassiodorus  and  others,  from 
which  it  is  evident  that  the  signification  of  the  terms  employed  had 
completely  escaped  him.  Modes  are  not  mentioned  by  him  [but  cf. 
3,  20,  7]   and  keys  and  genera  are  confounded  together." 


137]        ^^  ^^^  FOUR  MATHEMATICAL  SCIENCES          137 

not  only  at  sacred  rites,  but  at  all  ceremonies  and  in  all  things 
glad  or  sorrowful. 

Chapter  17.    On  the  power  of  music. 

1.  And  without  music  there  can  be  no  perfect  knowledge, 
for  there  is  nothing  without  it.  For  even  the  universe  itself 
is  said  to  have  been  put  together  with  a  certain  harmony  of 
sounds,  and  the  very  heavens  revolve  under  the  guidance  of 
harmony.  Music  rouses  the  emotions,  it  calls  the  senses  to  a 
different  quality. 

2.  In  battles,  too,  the  music  of  the  trumpet  fires  the  war- 
riors, and  the  more  impetuous  its  loud  sound  the  braver  is  the 
spirit  for  the  fight.  Also,  song  cheers  the  rowers.  For  the 
enduring  of  labors,  too,  music  comforts  the  mind,  and  singing 
lightens  weariness  in  solitary  tasks. 

3.  Music  calms  overwrought  minds  also,  as  is  read  of 
David,  who  by  his  skill  in  playing  rescued  Saul  from  an  un- 
clean spirit.  Even  the  very  beasts  and  snakes,  birds  and 
dolphins,  music  calls  to  hear  its  notes.  Moreover  whatever 
we  say  or  whatever  emotions  we  feel  within  from  the  beating 
of  our  pulses,  it  is  proven  that  they  are  brought  into  com- 
munion with  the  virtues  through  the  musical  rhythms  of  har- 
mony. 

Chapter  18.    On  the  three  parts  of  music. 

1.  There  are  three  parts  of  muisic,  namely,  harmonica, 
rhythmica,  metrica.  Harmonica  is  that  which  distinguishes 
in  sounds  the  high  and  the  low.  Rhythmica  is  that  which 
inquires  concerning  the  succession  of  words  as  to  whether  the 
sound  fits  them  well  or  ill. 

2.  Metrica  is  that  which  learns  by  approved  method  the 
measure  of  the  different  metres,  as  for  example,  the  heroic, 
iambic,  elegiac,  and  so  on. 

Chapter  19.    On  the  triple  division  of  music. 

I.  It  is  agreed  that  all  sound  which  is  the  material  of  music 
is  of  three  sorts.  First  is  harmonica,  which  consists  of  vocal 
music;  second  is  organica,  which  is  formed  from  the  breath; 
third  is  rhythmica,  which  receives  its  numbers  from  the  beat 
of  the  fingers. 


1 38  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [  1 38 

2.  For  sound  is  produced  either  by  the  voice,  coming 
through  the  throat;  or  by  the  breath,  coming  through  the 
trumpet  or  tibia,  for  example ;  or  by  touch,  as  in  the  case  of 
the  cithara  or  anything  else  that  gives  a  tuneful  sound  on 
being  struck. 

Chapter  20.     On  the  first  division  of  music  which  is  called 
harmonica. 

1.  The  first  division  of  music,  which  is  called  harmonica, 
that  is,  modulation  of  the  voice,  has  to  do  with  comedians, 
tragedians,  and  choruses,  and  all  who  sing  with  the  proper 
voice.^  This  [coming]  from  the  spirit  and  the  body  makes 
motion,  and  out  of  motion,  sound,  out  of  which  music  is 
formed,  which  is  called  in  man  the  voice. 

2.  Harmonica  is  the  modulation  of  the  voice  and  the  con- 
cord or  fitting  together  of  very  many  sounds. 

3.  Symphonia  is  the  managing  of  modulation  so  that  high 
and  low  tones  accord,  whether  in  the  voice  or  in  wind  or 
stringed  instruments.  Through  this,  higher  and  lower  voices 
harmonize,  so  that  whoever  makes  a  dissonance  from  it  of- 
fends the  sense  of  hearing.  The  opposite  of  this  is  diaphonia, 
that  is,  voices  grating  on  one  another  or  in  dissonance. 

7.  Tonus  is  a  high  utterance  of  voice.  For  it  is  a  differ- 
ence and  measure  of  harmony  which  depends  on  the  stress 
and  pitch  of  the  voice.  Musicians  have  divided  its  kinds  into 
fifteen  parts,  of  which  the  hyperlydian  is  the  last  and  highest, 
the  hypodorian  the  lowest  of  all. 

8.  Song  is  the  modulation  of  the  voice,  for  sound  is  unmod- 
ulated, and  sound  precedes  song. 

Chapter  21.  On  the  second  division,  which  is  called  organica. 
I.  The  second  division,  organica,  has  to  do  with  those  [in- 
struments] that,  filled  with  currents  of  breath,  are  animated 
so  as  to  sound  like  the  voice,  as  for  example,  trumpets,  reeds. 
Pan's  pipes,  organs,  the  pandura,  and  instruments  like  these.^ 

^  Qui  voce  propria  canunt. 

'  The  pandura  was  a  stringed  instrument !  In  the  succeeding  sec- 
tions these  instruments  are  briefly  described,  and  the  sambuca,  another 
stringed  instrument,  is  also  included. 


139]        O^  'THE  FOUR  MATHEMATICAL  SCIENCES          139 

Chapter  22.    On  the  third  division,  which  is  called  rhythmica. 

1.  The  third  division  is  rhythmica,  having  to  do  with  strings 
and  instruments  that  are  beaten,  to  which  are  assigned  the  dif- 
ferent species  of  cithara,  the  drum,  and  the  cymbal,  the  sis- 
trum,  acitabula  of  bronze  and  silver,  and  others  of  metallic 
stiffness  that  when  struck  return  a  pleasant  tinkling  sound, 
and  the  rest  of  this  sort.^ 

2.  The  form  of  the  cithara  in  the  beginning  is  said  to  have 
been  like  the  human  breast,  because  as  the  voice  was  uttered 
from  the  breast  so  was  music  from  the  cithara,  and  it  was 
so-called  for  the  same  reason.  For  pectus  is  in  the  Doric 
language  called  Kidapa- 

Chapter  23.    On  the  numbers  of  music. 

1.  You  inquire  into  the  numbers  according  to  music  as  fol- 
lows :  setting  down  the  extremes,  as  for  example,  VI  and  XII, 
you  see  by  how  many  units  VI  is  surpassed  by  XII,  and  it  is 
by  VI  units ;  you  square  it ;  six  times  six  make  XXXVI.  You 
add  those  first-mentioned  extremes,  VI  and  XII;  together 
they  make  XVIII;  you  divide  XXXVI  by  XVIII;  two  is  the 
result.  This  you  add  to  the  smaller  amount,  VI  namely;  the 
result  will  be  VIII  and  it  will  be  the  mean  between  VI  and 
XII.  Because  VIII  surpasses  VI  by  two  units,  that  is  by  a 
third  of  six,  and  VIII  is  surpassed  by  XII  by  four  units,  a 
third  part  [of  twelve].  By  what  part,  then,  the  mean  sur- 
passes, by  the  same  is  it  surpassed. 

2.  Just  as  this  proportion  exists  in  the  universe,  being  con- 
stituted by  the  revolving  circles,  so  also  in  the  microcosm — not 
to  speak  of  the  voice — it  has  such  great  power  that  man  does 
not  exist  without  harmony.^ 

^  Other  instruments  mentioned  are  psalterum,  lyra,  barbitos,  phoenix, 
pedis,  indica,  aliae  quadrata  forma  vel  trigonali,  margaritum,  balle- 
matica,  tintinnabulum,  symphonia. 

»  The  general  sense  of  the  passage :  "  ut  sine  ipsius  perf ectione 
etiam  homo  symphoniis  carens  non  consistat."     3,  23,  2.     See  p.  65. 


140  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [140 

ON  ASTRONOMY 

INTRODUCTION 

The  science  of  astronomy,  in  its  history  from  the  great 
period  of  Greece  down  to  the  dark  ages,  furnishes  almost 
as  complete  a  spectacle  of  decay  as  does  geometry.  It  is 
quite  certain  "  that  Aristarchus  taught  the  annual  motion 
of  the  earth  around  the  sun,  and  both  he  and  Seleukus 
taught  the  diurnal  rotation  of  the  earth,"  ^  but  the  general 
scientific  development  of  the  age  was  not  sufficient  to  as- 
similate this  advanced  theory,  and  astronomers  went  back 
to  a  geocentric  universe.  Strange  to  say,  the  later  rise  of 
practical  astronomy  at  Alexandria,  and  the  development  of 
pure  mathematics,  did  not  secure  a  return  to  the  more  ad- 
vanced theory,  the  efforts  of  the  later  astronomers  being 
devoted,  not  to  a  reconsideration  of  the  fundamental  theses 
of  the  subject,  but  to  putting  the  geocentric  theory  on  a 
secure  mathematical  basis.  The  greatest  of  these  astrono- 
mers, Ptolemy  (second  century  A.  D.),  left  in  his  Syntaxis 
a  comprehensive  summing  up  of  mathematical  astronomy. 

Among  the  Romans  no  scientists  arose  to  assimilate  the 
results  of  the  work  of  the  Greeks,  and  sound  ideas  as  to  the 
form  of  the  universe  were  rare  even  in  the  most  intelligent 
circles.  Since  systematic  observation  was  not  practiced, 
and  a  knowledge  of  the  higher  mathematics  did  not  exist 
among  the  Romans,  their  astronomy  was  a  matter  of  tra- 
dition and  authority.  Therefore  upon  the  acceptance  of 
Christianity  and  the  realization  that  there  was  a  conflict 
between  the  Greek  and  the  Hebrew  cosmologies,  it  was  a 
comparatively  easy  matter  to  accept  the  Scriptures  instead 
of  the  secular  writers  as  the  source  of  authority. 

» J.  L.  E.  Dreyer,  History  of  the  Planetary  Systems  from   Thales 
to  Kepler  (Cambridge,  1906),  p.  141. 


1 4 1  ]        O^  ^^^  PO  UR  MA  THEM  A  TICAL  SCIENCES  1 4 1 

In  Isidore's  ideas  on  cosmology  a  curious  inconsistency 
appears.  On  the  one  hand,  he  shows  that  he  regards  the 
words  of  the  Scripture  as  the  final  authority,  and  he  fre- 
quently gives  expression  to  primitive  notions  in  accord 
with  the  Hebrew  cosmology.  On  the  other  hand,  he  dis- 
plays a  greater  liberality  than  is  shown  by  his  predecessor, 
Cassiodorus,  or  by  any  other  Christian  writer  in  the  Latin 
language  up  to  his  time,  in  borrowing  from  the  pagan 
writers  on  astronomy.  The  explanation  of  this  may  be 
that  it  was  a  natural  reaction  from  dogmatic  narrowness, 
made  possible  for  him  by  the  favorable  conditions  offered 
by  contemporary  Spain ;  but  the  more  probable  supposition 
is  that  his  natural  vagueness  of  mind  and  lack  of  critical 
power  enabled  him  to  be  much  more  liberal  in  effect  than 
he  in  reality  would  have  wished  to  be.^ 

Another  feature  of  Isidore's  De  Astronomia  that  de- 
serves notice  is  his  attitude  toward  the  forbidden  science 
of  astrology.^  He  denies  a  fundamental  assumption  of  the 
science,  namely,  that  Mercury  and  Venus,  for  example, 
have  as  planets  an  influence  analogous  to  their  characters 
in  mythology,  and  he  asserts  that  the  names  of  the  planets 
and  fixed  stars,  as  used  in  astrology,  have  no  validity. 
This  was  vigorous  reasoning  for  the  dark  ages,  and  to  all 
appearance  it  completely  cut  away  the  foundation  of  as- 
trology. Nevertheless  Isidore  believed  that  astrology  had 
some  truth — the  magi  who  announced  the  birth  of  Christ 
were,  he  believed,  astrologers — but  this  truth  arose  "  out 

^  See  Introduction,  p.  51. 

'  Tannery  in  his  Recherches  sur  Vhistoire  de  I'astronomie  ancienne 
(Paris,  1893),  has  an  interesting  discussion  of  the  successive  names 
of  the  science  of  the  heavenly  bodies.  He  attributes  the  revival  of 
the  older  term  astronomy  about  the  end  of  the  third  century  A,  D., 
to  the  association  of  the  term  astrology  with  divination.  Tn  Varro 
the  name  used  was  astrology. 

3  3,  71,  21-40.     See  pp.  152-4. 


142  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [1^2 

of  a  deadly  alliance  of  men  and  bad  angels."  His  attitude, 
then,  seems  to  be  that  astrologers  may  forecast  the  future, 
but  that  their  ability  to  do  so  depends  on  the  assistance  of 
demons,  and  that  the  drawing  up  of  nativities  is  merely  a 
pretence  to  cloak  this  partnership. 

Little  is  known  of  astronomy  as  a  subject  in  the  Roman 
schools.  It  no  doubt  formed  part  of  the  curriculum,  but 
apparently  no  text-book  was  produced  between  the  time  of 
Varro  and  that  of  Martianus  Capella.  The  three  school 
treatises  of  late  Roman  and  early  medieval  times,  written 
by  Capella,  Cassiodorus,  and  Isidore,  were  all  the  work  of 
educational  encyclopedists  from  whom  nothing  of  a  scien- 
tific character  could  be  expected. 

EXTRACTS 

Book  III,  Chapter  24.    On  the  name  of  astronomy. 

I.  Astronomy  is  the  law  of  the  stars,  and  it  traces  with  in- 
quiring reason  the  courses  of  the  heavenly  bodies,  and  their 
figures,  and  the  regular  movements  of  the  stars  with  refer- 
ence to  one  another  and  to  the  earth. 

Chapter  25.     On  its  discoverers. 

1.  The  Egyptians  were  the  first  to  discover  astronomy. 
And  the  Chaldeans  first  taught  astrology  and  the  observance 
of  nativity.  Moreover,  Josephus  asserts  that  Abraham  taught 
astrology  to  the  Egyptians.  The  Greeks,  however,  say  that 
this  art  was  first  elaborated  by  Atlas,  and  therefore  it  was 
said  that  he  held  the  heavens  up. 

2.  Whoever  was  the  discoverer,  it  was  the  movement  of 
the  heavens  and  his  rational  faculty  that  stirred  him,  and  in 
the  light  of  the  succession  of  seasons,  the  observed  and  es- 
tablished courses  of  the  stars,  and  the  regularity  of  the  inter- 
vals, he  considered  carefully  certain  dimensions  and  numbers, 
and  getting  a  definite  and  distinct  idea  of  them  he  wove  them 
into  order  and  discovered  astrology. 


143]        ^^  ^^^  FOUR  MATHEMATICAL  SCIENCES         143 

Chapter  26.     On  its  teachers. 

I.  In  both  Greek  and  Latin  there  are  volumes  written  on 
astronomy  by  different  writers.     Of  these  Ptolemy  ^  is  con- 
sidered chief  among  the  Greeks.     He  also  taught  rules  by 
which  the  courses  of  the  stars  may  be  discovered.^ 
Chapter  2y.    The  difference  between  astronomy  and  astrology. 

1.  There  is  some  difference  between  astronomy  and  as- 
trology, r  For  astronomy  embraces  the  revolution  of  the 
heavens,  the  rise,  setting,  and  motion  of  the  heavenly  bodies, 
and  the  origin  of  their  names^  Astrology,  on  the  other  hand, 
is  in  part  natural,  in  part  superstitious. 

2.  It  is  natural  astrology  when  it  describes  the  courses  of 
the  sun  and  the  moon  and  the  stars,  and  the  regular  succes- 
sion of  the  seasons.  Superstitious  astrology  is  that  which  the 
mathematici  follow,  who  prophesy  by  the  stars,  and  who  dis- 
tribute the  twelve  signs  of  the  heavens  among  the  individual 
parts  of  the  soul  or  body,  and  endeavor  to  predict  the  nativi- 
ties and  characters  of  men  from  the  course  of  the  stars. 

Chapter  28.    On  the  subject-matter  of  astronomy. 

I.  The  subject-matter  of  astronomy  is  made  up  of  many 
kinds.  For  it  defines  what  the  universe  is,  what  the  heavens, 
what  the  position  and  movement  of  the  sphere,  what  the  axis 
of  the  heavens  and  the  poles,  what  are  the  climates  of  the 
heavens,  what  the  courses  of  the  sun  and  moon  and  stars,  and 
so  forth. 

Chapter  29.    On  the  universe  and  its  name. 

I.  Mundus  (the  universe)  is  that  which  is  made  up  of  the 
heavens  and  earth  and  the  sea  and  all  the  heavenly  bodies. 
And  it  is  called  mundus  for  the  reason  that  it  is  always  in 
motion.    For  no  repose  is  granted  to  its  elements. 

Chapter  30.    On  the  form  of  the  universe. 

I.  The  form  of  the  universe  is  described  as  follows:  as  the 

*  Du  Breul  has  Ptolemaeus,  rex  Alexandriae. 

'  The  canons  by  which  Ptolemy  calculated  the  position  of  the  planets. 
Isidore  makes  no  further  reference  to  them. 


144  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [i^ 

universe  rises  toward  the  region  of  the  north,  so  it  slopes 
away  toward  the  south;  its  head  and  face,  as  it  were,  is  the 
east,  and  its  back  part  the  north. 

Chapter  31.    On  the  heavens  and  their  name. 

1.  The  philosophers  have  asserted  that  the  heavens  are 
round,  in  rapid  motion,  and  made  of  fire,  and  that  they  are 
called  by  this  name  (coelum)  because  they  have  the  forms  of 
the  stars  fixed  on  them,  like  a  dish  with  figures  in  relief 
(coelatum), 

2.  For  God  decked  them  with  bright  lights,  and  filled  them 
with  the  glowing  circles  of  the  sun  and  moon,  and  adorned 
them  with  the  glittering  images  of  flashing  stars. 

Chapter  32.    On  the  situation  of  the  celestial  sphere. 

1.  The  sphere  of  the  heavens  is  rounded  and  its  center  is 
the  earth,  equally  shut  in  on  every  side.  This  sphere,  they 
say,  has  neither  beginning  nor  end,  for  the  reason  that  being 
rounded  like  a  circle  it  is  not  easily  perceived  where  it  begins 
or  where  it  ends. 

2.  The  philosophers  have  brought  in  the  theory  of  seven 
heavens  of  the  universe,  that  is,  globes  with  planets  moving 
harmoniously,  and  they  assert  that  by  their  circles  all  things 
are  bound  together,  and  they  think  that  these,  being  connected, 
and,  as  it  were,  fitted  to  one  another,  move  backward  and  are 
borne  with  definite  motions  in  contrary  directions. 

Chapter  33.    On  the  motion  of  the  same. 

1.  The  sphere  revolves  on  two  axes,  of  which  one  is  the 
northern,  which  never  sets,  and  is  called  Boreas;  the  other  is 
the  southern,  which  is  never  seen,  and  is  called  Austronotius. 

2.  On  these  two  poles  the  sphere  of  heaven  moves,  they 
say,  and  with  its  motion  the  stars  fixed  in  it  pass  from  the 
east  all  the  way  around  to  the  west,  the  septentriones  near  the 
point  of  rest  describing  smaller  circles. 

Chapter  34.    On  the  course  of  the  same  sphere. 

I.  The  sphere  of  heaven,  [moving]  from  the  east  towards 
the  west,  turns  once  in  a  day  and  night,  in  the  space  of  twenty- 


145]        ^^  ^^^  ^^^^  MATHEMATICAL  SCIENCES         145 

four  hours,  within  which  the  sun  completes  his  swift  revolv- 
ing course  over  the  lands  and  under  the  earth. 

Chapter  35.    On  the  swiftness  of  the  heavens. 

I.  With  such  swiftness  is  the  sphere  of  heaven  said  to  run, 
that  if  the  stars  did  not  run  against  its  headlong  course  in 
order  to  delay  it,  it  would  destroy  the  universe. 

Chapter  36.    On  the  axis  of  the  heavens. 

I.  The  axis  is  a  straight  line  north,  which  passes  through 
the  center  of  the  globe  of  the  sphere,  and  is  called  axis  be- 
cause the  sphere  revolves  on  it  like  a  wheel,  or  it  may  be 
because  the  Wain  is  there. 

Chapter  37.    On  the  poles  of  the  heavens. 

I.  The  poles  are  little  circles  which  run  on  the  axis.  Of 
these  one  is  the  northern  which  never  sets  and  is  called 
Boreas;  the  other  is  the  southern  which  is  never  seen,  and  is 
called  Austronotius. 

Chapter  38.    On  the  car  dines  of  the  heavens. 

I.  The  car  dines  of  the  heavens  are  the  ends  of  the  axis, 
and  are  called  car  dines  (hinges)  because  the  heavens  turn  on 
them,  or  because  they  turn  like  the  heart  (cor). 

Chapter  40.    On  the  gates  of  the  heavens. 

I.  There  are  two  gates  of  the  heavens,  the  east  and  the 
west    For  by  one  the  sun  appears,  by  the  other  he  retires. 

Chapter  42.    On  the  four  parts  of  the  heavens. 

I.  The  climata  of  the  heavens,  that  is,  the  tracts  or  parts, 
are  four,  of  which  the  first  part  is  the  eastern,  where  some 
stars  rise;  the  second,  the  western,  where  some  stars  set;  the 
third,  the  northern,  where  the  sun  comes  in  the  longer  days; 
the  fourth,  the  southern,  where  the  sun  comes  in  the  time  of 
the  longer  nights. 

4.  There  are  also  other  climata  of  the  heavens,  seven  in 
number,  as  if  seven  lines  from  east  to  west,  under  which  the 
manners  of  men  are  dissimilar,  and  animals  of  different 
species  appear;  they  are  named  from  certain  famous  places, 
of  which  the  first  is  Meroe;  the  second,   Siene;  the  third, 


146  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [1^5 

Catachoras,  that  is  Africa;  the  fourth,  Rhodus;  the  fifth, 
Hellespontus ;  the  sixth,  Mesopontus;  the  seventh,  Boris- 
thenes.^ 

Chapter  43.    On  the  hemispheres. 

I.  A  hemisphere  is  half  a  sphere.  The  hemisphere  above 
the  earth  is  that  part  of  the  heavens  the  whole  of  which  is 
seen  by  us ;  the  hemisphere  under  the  earth  is  that  which  can- 
not be  seen  as  long  as  it  is  under  the  earth. 

Chapter  44.    On  the  five  circles  of  the  heavens. 

1.  There  are  five  zones  in  the  heavens,  according  to  the 
differences  of  which  certain  parts  of  the  earth  are  inhabitable, 
because  of  their  moderate  temperature,  and  certain  parts  are 
uninhabitable  because  of  extremes  of  heat  and  cold.  And 
these  are  called  zones  or  circles  for  the  reason  that  they  exist 
on  the  circumference  of  the  sphere. 

2.  The  first  of  these  circles  is  called  the  Arctic,  because 
the  constellations  of  the  Arcti  are  visible  enclosed  within  it; 
the  second  is  called  the  summer  tropic,  because  in  this  circle 
the  sun  makes  summer  in  northern  regions,  and  does  not  pass 
beyond  it  but  immediately  returns,  and  from  this  it  is  called 
tropic. 

3.  The  third  circle  is  called  lovfiiptvgo^  which  is  equivalent 
to  equinoctialis  in  Latin,  for  the  reason  that  when  the  sun 
comes  to  this  circle  it  makes  equal  day  and  night  (for  loTj/iipcvoc 
means  in  Latin  day  equal  to  the  night)  and  by  this  circle  the 
sphere  is  seen  to  be  equally  divided.  The  fourth  circle  is 
called  Antarctic,  2  for  the  reason  that  it  is  opposite  to  the 
circle  which  we  call  Arctic. 

4.  The  fifth  circle  is  called  the  winter  tropic  (xei^^pivoc  rpoircKdg), 
which  in  the  Latin  is  hiemalis  or  brumalis,  because  when  the 
sun  comes  to  this  circle  it  makes  winter  for  those  who  are  in 
the  north  and  summer  for  those  who  dwell  in  the  parts  of  the 
south. 

*  For  map  showing  the  climata  see  Konrad  Miller,  Die  dltesten  Welt- 
karten  (Stuttgart,  1895),  vol.  iii,  p.  127. 
'  This  order  is  repeated  in  13,  6. 


147]        ^^  ^^^  FOUR  MATHEMATICAL  SCIENCES  147 

Chapter  47.    On  the  size  of  the  sun. 

I.  The  size  of  the  sun  is  greater  than  that  of  the  earth  and 
so  from  the  moment  when  it  rises  it  appears  equally  to  east 
and  west  at  the  same  time.^  And  as  to  its  appearing  to  us 
about  a  cubit  in  width,  it  is  necessary  to  reflect  how  far  the 
sun  is  from  the  earth,  which  distance  causes  it  to  seem  small 
to  us. 

Chapter  43.     On  the  size  of  the  moon. 

I.  The  size  of  the  moon  also  is  said  to  be  less  than  that  of 
the  sun.  For  since  the  sun  is  higher  than  the  moon  and  still 
appears  to  us  larger  than  the  moon,  if  it  should  approach 
near  to  us  it  would  be  plainly  seen  to  be  much  larger  than 
the  moon.  Just  as  the  sun  is  larger  than  the  earth,  so  the 
earth  is  in  some  degree  larger  than  the  moon. 

Chapter  49.    On  the  nature  of  the  sun. 

I.  The  sun,  being  made  of  fire,  heats  to  a  whiter  glow  be- 
cause of  the  excessive  speed  of  its  circular  motion.  And  its 
fire,  philosophers  declare,  is  fed  with  water,  and  it  receives 
the  virtue  of  light  and  heat  from  an  element  opposed  to  it. 
Whence  we  see  that  it  is  often  wet  and  dewy. 

Chapter  50.    On  the  motion  of  the  sun. 

1.  They  say  that  the  sun  has  a  motion  of  its  own  and  does 
not  turn  with  the  universe.  For  if  it  remained  fixed  in  the 
heavens  all  days  and  nights  would  be  equal,  but  since  we  see 
that  it  will  set  to-morrow  in  a  different  place  from  where  it 
set  yesterday,  it  is  plain  that  it  has  a  motion  of  its  own  and 
does  not  move  with  the  universe.  For  it  accomplishes  its 
yearly  orbits  by  varying  courses,  on  account  of  the  changes 
of  the  seasons. 

2.  For  going  further  to  the  south  it  makes  winter,  in  order 
that  the  land  may  be  enriched  by  winter  rains  and  frosts. 
Approaching  the  north  it  restores  the  summer,  in  order  that 
fruits  may  mature,  and  what  is  green  in  the  damp  weather 
may  ripen  in  the  heat. 

1  This  passage  indicates  Isidore's  belief  in  a  flat  earth.    See  pp.  5i-54- 


148  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [i^g 

Chapter  51.    What  the  sun  does. 

1.  The  rising  sun  brings  the  day,  the  setting  sun  the  night; 
for  day  is  the  sun  above  the  earth,  night  is  the  sun  beneath  the 
earth.  From  the  sun  come  the  hours;  from  the  sun,  when  it 
rises,  the  day ;  from  the  sun,  too,  when  it  sets,  the  night ;  from 
the  sun  the  months  and  years  are  numbered;  from  the  sun 
come  the  changes  of  the  seasons. 

2.  When  it  runs  through  the  south  it  is  nearer  the  earth; 
when  it  passes  toward  the  north  it  is  raised  aloft.  God  has 
appointed  for  it  different  courses,  places,  and  times  for  this 
reason,  lest  if  it  always  remained  in  the  same  place  all  things 
should  be  consumed  by  its  daily  heat — just  as  Clement  says: 
"  It  takes  on  different  motions,  by  which  the  temperature  of 
the  air  is  moderated  with  a  view  to  the  seasons,  and  a  regular 
order  is  observed  in  its  seasonal  changes  and  permutations. 
For  when  it  ascends  to  the  higher  parts  it  tempers  the  spring, 
and  when  it  comes  to  the  summit  of  heaven  it  kindles  the 
summer  heats ;  descending  again,  it  gives  autumn  its  tempera- 
ture. And  when  it  returns  to  the  lower  circle  it  leaves  to  us 
the  rigor  of  winter  cold  from  the  icy  quarter  of  the  heavens." 

Chapter  52.    On  the  journey  of  the  sun. 

I.  The  eastern  sun  holds  its  way  through  the  south,  and 
after  it  comes  to  the  west  and  has  bathed  itself  in  ocean,  it 
passes  by  unknown  ways  beneath  the  earth,  and  again  returns 
to  the  east. 

Chapter  53.    On  the  light  of  the  moon. 

I.  Certain  philosophers  hold  that  the  moon  has  a  light  of 
its  own,  that  one  part  of  its  globe  is  bright  and  another  dark, 
and  that  turning  by  degrees  it  assumes  different  shapes. 
Others,  on  the  contrary,  assert  that  the  moon  has  no  light  of 
its  own,  but  is  illumined  by  the  rays  of  the  sun.  And  there- 
fore it  suffers  an  eclipse  if  the  shadow  of  the  earth  is  inter- 
posed between  itself  and  the  sun. 

Chapter  56.    On  the  motion  of  the  moon. 

I.  The  moon  governs  the  times  by  alternately  losing  and 
recovering  its  light.     It  advances  like  the  sun  in  an  oblique. 


149]        ^^  ^^^  FOUR  MATHEMATICAL  SCIENCES  149 

and  not  a  vertical  course,  for  this  reason,  that  it  may  not  be 
opposite  the  center  of  the  earth  and  often  suffer  ecHpse.  For 
its  orbit  is  near  the  earth.  The  waxing  moon  has  its  horns 
looking  east;  the  waning,  west;  rightly,  because  it  is  going  to 
set  and  lose  its  light. 

Chapter  57.    On  the  nearness  of  the  moon  to  the  earth. 

I.  The  moon  is  nearer  the  earth  than  is  the  sun.  Therefore 
having  a  narrow  orbit  it  finishes  its  course  more  quickly.  For 
it  traverses  in  thirty  days  the  journey  the  sun  accomplishes 
in  three  hundred  and  sixty-five.  Whence  the  ancients  made 
the  months  depend  on  the  moon,  the  years  on  the  course  of 
the  sun. 

Chapter  58.    On  the  eclipse  of  the  sun. 

I.  There  is  an  eclipse  of  the  sun  as  often  as  the  thirtieth 
moon  reaches  the  same  line  where  the  sun  is  passing,  and, 
interposing  itself,  darkens  the  sun.  For  we  see  that  the  sun 
is  eclipsed  when  the  moon's  orb  comes  opposite  to  it. 

Chapter  59.    On  the  eclipse  of  the  moon. 

I.  There  is  an  eclipse  of  the  moon  as  often  as  the  moon 
runs  into  the  shadow  of  the  earth.  For  it  is  thought  to  have 
no  light  of  its  own  but  to  be  illumined  by  the  sun,  whence  it 
suffers  eclipse  if  the  shadow  of  the  earth  comes  between  it 
and  the  sun.  The  fifteenth  moon  suffers  this  until  it  passes 
out  from  the  center  and  shadow  of  the  interposing  earth  and 
sees  the  sun  and  is  seen  by  the  sun. 

Chapter  60.  On  the  distinction  between  stella,  sidus,  and 
astrum. 
I.  Stellae,  sidera,  and  astra  differ  from  one  another.  For 
Stella  is  any  separate  star.  Sidera  are  made  of  very  many 
stars,  as  Hyades,  Pleiades.  Astra  are  large  stars  as  Orion, 
Bootes.  But  the  writers  confuse  these  names,  putting  astra 
for  Stella  and  Stella  for  sidera.^ 

*  Isidore  does  not  observe  the  distinctions  he  lays  down  here.  He 
does  not  seem  to  have  known  that  Orion  and  Bootes  were  constella- 
tions. 


150  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [i^O 

Chapter  61.    On  the  light  of  the  stars. 

I.  Stars  are  said  to  have  no  light  of  their  own,  but  to  be 
lighted  by  the  sun  like  the  moon. 

Chapter  62.    On  the  position  of  the  stars. 

I.  Stars  are  motionless,  and  being  fixed  are  carried  along 
by  the  heavens  in  perpetual  course,  and  they  do  not  set  by 
day  but  are  obscured  by  the  brilliance  of  the  sun. 

Chapter  63.    On  the  courses  of  the  stars. 

I.  Stars  either  are  borne  along  or  have  motion.  Those  are 
borne  along  which  are  fixed  in  the  heavens  and  revolve  with 
the  heavens.  Certain  have  motion,  like  the  planets,  that  is, 
the  wandering  stars,  which  go  through  roaming  courses,  but 
with  definite  limitations. 

Chapter  64.    On  the  varying  courses  of  the  stars. 

I.  According  as  stars  are  carried  on  different  orbits  of  the 
heavenly  planets,  certain  ones  rise  earlier  and  set  later,  and 
certain  rising  later  come  to  their  setting  earlier.  Others  rise 
together  and  do  not  set  at  the  same  time.  But  all  in  their  own 
time  revolve  in  a  course  of  their  own. 

Chapter  65.    On  the  distances  of  the  stars. 

I.  Stars  are  at  different  distances  from  the  earth  and  there- 
fore, being  of  unequal  brightness,  they  are  more  or  less  plain 
to  the  sight;  many  are  larger  than  the  bright  ones  which  we 
see,  but  being  further  away  they  appear  small  to  us. 

Chapter  66.    On  the  circular  number  of  the  stars. 

1.  There  is  a  circular  number  of  the  stars  by  which  it  is 
said  to  be  known  in  what  time  each  and  every  star  finishes  its 
orbit,  whether  in  longitude  or  latitude.^ 

2.  For  the  moon  is  said  to  complete  its  orbit  in  eight  years, 
Mercury  in  twenty,  Lucifer  in  nine,  the  sun  in  nineteen, 
Pyrois  in  fifteen.  Phaeton  in  twelve,  Saturn  in  thirty.    When 

1  Du  Breul  has  in  addition :  latitudo  intelligitur  per  signiferum, 
longitudo  per  proprium  excursum. 


1 5 1  ]        ON  THE  FO  UR  MA  THEM  A  TICAL  SCIENCES  1 5 1 

these  are  finished,  they  return  to  a  repetition  of  their  orbits 
through  the  same  constellations  and  regions. 

3.  Certain  stars  being  hindered  by  the  rays  of  the  sun  be- 
come irregular,  either  retrograde  or  stationary,  as  the  poet 
relates,  saying: 

Sol  tempora  dividit  aevi 
Mutat  nocte  diem,  radiisque  potentibus  astra 
Ire  vetat,  cursusque  vagos  statione  moratur. 

Chapter  67.    On  the  wandering  stars. 

I.  Certain  stars  are  called  planetae,  that  is,  wandering,  be- 
cause they  hasten  around  through  the  whole  universe  with 
varying  motions.  .  .  . 

Chapter  68. 

I.  Praecedentia  or  antegradatio  of  stars  is  when  a  star 
seems  to  be  making  its  usual  course  and  [really]  is  somewhat 
ahead  of  it. 

Chapter  69. 

I.  Remotio  or  retrogradatio  of  stars  is  when  a  star,  while 
moving  on  its  regular  orbit,  seems  at  the  same  time  to  be  mov- 
ing backward. 

Chapter  70. 

I.  The  status  of  stars  means  that  while  a  star  is  continuing 
its  proper  motion  it  nevertheless  seems  in  some  places  to  stand 
still. 

Chapter  71.    On  the  names  of  stars. 

3.  Stellae  is  derived  from  stare,  because  the  stars  always 
remain  {stant)  fixed  in  the  heavens  and  do  not  fall.  As 
to  our  seeing  stars  fall,  as  it  were,  from  heaven,  they  are 
not  stars  but  little  bits  of  fire  that  have  fallen  from  the 
ether,  and  this  happens  when  the  wind,  blowing  high,  carries 
along  with  it  fire  from  the  ether,  which  as  it  is  carried  along 
gives  the  appearance  of  falling  stars.  For  stars  cannot  fall; 
they  are  motionless  (as  has  been  said  above)  and  are  fixed 
in  the  heavens  and  carried  around  with  them. 


152  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [1^2 

16.  A  comet  is  so-called  because  it  spreads  light  from  itself 
as  if  it  were  hair  {comas).  And  when  this  kind  of  star  ap- 
pears it  indicates  pestilence,  famine,  or  war. 

17.  Comets  are  called  in  the  Latin  crinitae  because  they 
have  a  trail  of  flames  resembling  hair  (in  modum  crinium). 
The  Stoics  say  there  are  over  thirty  of  them,  and  certain  as- 
trologers have  written  down  their  names  and  qualities. 

20.  The  planets  are  stars  which  are  not  fixed  in  the  heavens 
like  the  rest,  but  move  along  in  the  air.  .  .  .  Sometimes  they 
move  towards  the  south,  sometimes  towards  the  north,  gener- 
ally in  a  direction  opposite  to  that  of  the  universe,  sometimes 
with  it,  and  their  Greek  names  are  Phaeton,  Phaenon,  Pyrois, 
Hesperus,  Stilbon. 

21.  To  these  the  Romans  have  given  the  names  of  their 
gods,  that  is,  of  Jupiter,  Saturn,  Mars,  Venus,  Mercury.  De- 
ceiving themselves  and  wishing  to  deceive  [others]  into  wor- 
ship of  these  gods,  who  had  bestowed  upon  them  somewhat 
in  accordance  with  the  desire  of  the  world,  they  pointed  to 
the  stars  in  heaven,  saying  that  that  was  Jove's  star,  that 
Mercury's,  and  the  empty  idea  arose.  This  erroneous  belief 
the  devil  cherished,  but  Christ  destroyed. 

22.  Moreover  as  to  the  constellations  which  are  given  names 
by  the  heathen,  in  which  the  likeness  of  living  creatures  is 
traced  by  means  of  the  stars,  like  Arctos,  Aries,  Taurus, 
Libra,  and  others,  they  who  first  discerned  constellations  in  a 
number  of  stars  were  influenced  by  superstitious  vanity  and 
imagined  a  bodily  form,  giving  them,  because  of  certain  rea- 
sons, the  likenesses  and  names  of  their  gods. 

23.  For  they  named  Aries,  the  first  constellation — to  which, 
as  to  Libra,  they  assign  the  middle  line  of  the  universe  ^ — 
after  Jupiter  Ammon,  on  whose  head  image  makers  fix  the 
horns  of  a  ram  (arietis  cornua). 

24.  This  the  heathen  set  as  the  first  among  the  constella- 
tions because  in  the  month  of  March,  which  is  the  beginning 
of  the  year,  they  say  the  sun  is  moving  in  that  constellation. 

*  The  celestial  equator. 


153]        ^^  ^^^  ^^  ^^  ^^  THEM  A  TICAL  SCIENCES         1 53 

26.  Cancer,  too,  they  so  named  because  when  the  sun  comes 
to  that  constellation  in  the  month  of  June,  it  begins  to  move 
backward  in  the  manner  of  a  crab  (in  modum  cancri),  and 
brings  in  the  shorter  days ;  for  in  this  creature  front  and  rear 
are  indistinguishable  and  it  advances  either  way,  so  that  its 
fore  part  may  be  behind  and  its  back  part  before. 

32.  Moreover  Aquarius  and  Pisces  they  named  from  the  . 
rainy  season,  because  heavier  rains  fall  in  winter  when  the 
sun  turns  at  these  constellations.  And  it  is  a  wonderful  folly 
of  the  heathen  that  they  have  raised  to  the  heavens  not  only 
fish,  but  rams  also,  and  he-goats  and  bulls,  she-bears  and  dogs, 
crabs  and  scorpions.  They  have  also  placed  among  the  stars 
of  heaven  an  eagle  and  a  swan,  in  memory  of  Jove,  because 
of  the  myths  about  him. 

33.  They  believed,  too,  that  Perseus  and  his  wife  Androm- 
eda were  received  into  the  heavens  after  their  death,  so  they 
marked  out  likenesses  of  them  in  the  stars,  and  did  not  blush 
to  call  them  by  their  names. 

37.  But  by  whatever  fashion  of  superstition  these  are 
"named  by  men,  they  are  nevertheless  stars,  which  God  made 
at  the  beginning  of  the  universe  and  ordained  to  mark  the 
seasons  with  regular  motion. 

38.  Therefore  observations  of  these  constellations,  or  na- 
tivities, or  the  rest  of  the  superstition  that  attaches  itself  to 
the  observance  of  the  stars — that  is,  to  a  knowledge  of  the 
fates — and  is  doubtless  opposed  to  our  faith,  ought  to  be 
ignored  by  Christians  in  such  a  way  that  it  would  seem  they 
had  not  been  written. 

39.  But  a  good  many,  enticed  by  the  fairness  and  bright- 
ness of  the  constellations,  have  in  their  blindness  fallen  into 
the  errors  of  the  stars,  so  that  they  endeavor  to  foreknow 
future  events  by  the  noxious  computations  that  are  called 
mathesis;  but  not  only  the  teachers  of  the  Christian  religion, 
but  also  Plato  and  Aristotle  and  others  of  the  heathen,  moved 
by  truth,  condemned  them  with  unanimous  opinion,  saying 
that  confusion  as  to  [future]  things  was  produced  rather 
from  such  a  belief. 


154  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [154 

40.  For  if,  as  they  say,  men  are  driven  by  the  compulsion 
of  their  birth  to  various  kinds  of  acts,  why  should  the  good 
deserve  praise,  or  the  evil  feel  the  vengeance  of  the  law.  .  .  . 

41.  This  succession  of  the  seven  secular  disciplines  was 
terminated  in  astronomy  by  the  philosophers  for  this  purpose 
forsooth,  that  it  might  free  souls,  entangled  by  secular  wis- 
dom, from  earthly  matters,  and  set  them  at  meditation  upon 
the  things  on  high. 


BOOK  IV 
ON  MEDICINE^ 

INTRODUCTION 

The  Greek  science  of  medicine  was  one  which  reached 
a  high  degree  of  development.  As  early  as  the  fifth  cen- 
tury B.  C.  it  appears  in  the  school  of  Hippocrates,  divested 
of  nearly  all  trace  of  its  origin  in  superstition  and  magic, 
and  largely  relying  on  careful  observation  and  interpreta- 
tion of  symptoms.  This  school  already  possessed  a  con- 
siderable body  of  recorded  observations.  At  Alexandria, 
later,  further  progress  was  made,  especially  in  the  subject 
of  anatomy.  At  this  time  the  dissection— and  even  vivisec- 
tion— of  the  human  body  was  practiced,  though  there  are 
few  traces  of  it  earlier,  and  later  it  was  forbidden.  The 
last  great  land-mark  in  the  history  of  ancient  medicine  is 
to  be  found  in  the  works  of  Galen  (second  century  A.  D.) 
who  summed  up,  extended,  and  interpreted  the  medical 
knowledge  of  preceding  times. 

In  medicine,  however,  as  in  Greek  science  generally,, 
theoretical  and  philosophical  elements  often  prevailed  to 
the  detriment  of  the  pragmatical.  Examples  of  this  are  to 
be  seen  in  the  theory  of  the  four  humors,  first  found  in  the 
Hippocratic  writings ;  in  the  belief  of  the  Methodist  school, 

^  Subjects  of  medical  interest  are  treated  also  in  book  xi  (parts  of  the 
body,  monstrous  births,  etc.),  in  book  xii  (healing  springs),  and  in 
book  xxii  (diet).  There  is  also  a  chapter  (39)  on  pestilence  in  De 
Natura  Rerum, 

155]  155 


156  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [156 

which  held  that  disease  consisted  in  the  contraction  and  re- 
laxation of  the  pores  {Trdpot);  and  in  the  doctrines  of  the 
Pneumatic  school,  which  maintained  that  health  and  dis- 
ease resulted  from  the  influence  of  the  universal  soul  [Twevfiay 
A  re-action  against  this  tendency  is  evidenced  by  the  em- 
pirics, who  professed  to  reject  all  general  notions  and  to 
rely  on  experience  alone.  However,  the  increasing  pre- 
dominance of  the  theoretical  is  shown  in  the  case  of  Galen, 
who  secured  his  ascendency  over  succeeding  ages  by  his  ex- 
travagant theoretical  system  rather  than  by  his  really  great 
practical  knowledge. 

No  contribution  to  medicine  was  made  by  the  Romans. 
Although  the  profession  appeared  among  them  in  the  sec- 
ond century  B.  C,  it  remained  a  thing  apart,  in  the  hands 
of  Greek  physicians.^  Of  the  three  chief  writers  on  the 
subject  in  the  Latin  language,  two,  Celsus  and  Pliny,  were 
not  physicans  but  encyclopedists,  who  were  necessarily 
compilers  rather  than  scientists.^  The  only  writer  of  im- 
portance who  approached  his  work  from  a  professional 
standpoint  was  Caelius  Aurelianus,  and  his  book  is  of  im- 
portance chiefly  because  its  Greek  original  is  lost.^  This 
neglect  of  medicine  is  explained  in  part  by  the  fact  that 
physicians  stood  low  in  the  social  scale.  Another  more 
powerful  influence  was  the  increasing  fashionableness  of 
Oriental  religions  with  their  superstition  and  addiction  to 
magic  practices.  Toward  the  close  of  the  empire  the  de- 
cline was  rapid  in  medicine  as  in  other  fields.  Abridge- 
ments, which  cut  down  quality  unconsciously  as  much  as 
they  did  quantity  consciously,  held  the  field.  Itinerant 
quacks  and  "  folk-medicine  "  gradually  ousted  the  lay  pro- 

*  Galen  was  one  of  these. 

'  Max  Neuberger,  Geschichte  der  Medisin  (Stuttgart,  1906-1911),  vol. 
i,  pp.  310-321. 
*  Ibid.,  vol.  ii,  p.  61  et  seq. 


157]  ^^  MEDICINE  i^y 

fession  until  finally  what  little  science  remained  was  in  the 
hands  of  priests  and  monks,  who  needed  a  smattering  of 
the  subject  for  the  people  of  their  parishes,  and  the  inmates 
of  monasteries  and  hospitals.^ 

Isidore  does  not  say  for  what  purpose  he  wrote  his  De 
Medicina,  whether  to  serve  as  a  text-book  to  aid  in  the 
education  of  the  clergy  in  the  way  indicated  above,  or 
merely  in  the  spirit  of  the  encyclopedist.  A  number  of 
considerations  point  strongly  to  the  former  conclusion.  In 
the  first  place,  medicine  is  placed  in  juxtaposition  with  the 
seven  liberal  arts,  and  is  separated  from  subjects  more 
nearly  akin  to  it.  Secondly,  the  attitude  which  Isidore 
displays  in  speaking  of  medicine  is  one  which  remembers 
that  this  subject  was  once  classed  with  the  liberal  arts.  He 
feels  called  upon  to  explain  why  "  the  art  of  medicine  is 
not  included  among  the  liberal  disciplines  ",  and  his  ex- 
planation is  one  drawn  from  the  pedagogical  sphere;  he 
tells  us  that  medicine  is  "  a  second  philosophy  ",  by  which 
he  means  to  say  that  it  belongs  to  the  highest  stage  of  edu- 
cation, but  plays  therein  a  minor  part.  Finally,  we  must 
remember  that  Cassiodorus,  whose  comprehensive  plan  of 
education  had  great  influence  with  Isidore,  had  recognized 
the  need  of  medical  knowledge  in  the  education  of  the 
clergy,  as  shown  in  his  chapter  "  On  monks  having  the 
care  of  the  infirm  ". 

It  is  not  known  what  were  the  immediate  sources  of  Isi- 
dore's De  Medicina.  The  ultimate  authority  for  his  ac- 
count of  diseases  is  the  work  of  the  Methodist  Caelius 
Aurelianus,  whose  eight  books  containing  a  classification 
of  diseases  into  acute  and  chronic  are  reproduced  by  Isi- 
dore in  two  chapters  that  occupy  the  greater  part  of  the 
space  that  he  devoted  to  medicine. 

iNeuberger,  op.  cit.,  vol.  ii,  pp.  240-278  for  an  account  of  medicine 
in  the  early  middle  ages. 


1 58  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [  i  ^g 

EXTRACTS 
Chapter  i.    On  medicine. 

1.  Medicine  is  that  which  guards  or  restores  the  health  of 
the  body,  and  its  subject-matter  deals  with  diseases  and 
wounds. 

2.  And  so  it  includes  not  only  those  things  which  are  pre- 
sented in  the  art  {ars)  of  those  who  are  called  medici  in  the 
proper  sense,  but  food,  drink,  and  covering  as  well;  in  short, 
all  the  guarding  and  defence  by  which  our  body  is  protected 
against  blows  and  accidents  from  the  outside. 

Chapter  2.    On  its  name. 

I.  Its  name  is  believed  to  have  been  given  to  medicine  from 
modus,  that  is,  moderation,  so  that  not  enough  but  a  little  be 
used.  For  nature  is  made  sorrowful  by  much  and  rejoices 
in  the  moderate.  Whence  also  they  who  drink  in  quantities 
and  without  ceasing  of  herb  juices  (pigmenta)  and  antidotes, 
are  troubled.  For  all  immoderation  brings  not  welfare  but 
danger. 

Chapter  3.    On  the  founders  of  medicine. 

1.  Apollo  is  called  among  the  Greeks  the  author  and 
founder  of  the  art  of  medicine.  His  son,  Aesculapius,  en- 
larged it  by  his  fame  and  work.  But  after  Aesculapius  per- 
ished by  a  thunder-bolt,  the  business  of  curing  is  said  to  have 
been  forbidden  and  the  art  disappeared  with  its  author. 

2.  And  it  remained  unknown  for  nearly  five  hundred  years 
down  to  the  time  of  Artaxerxes,  king  of  the  Persians.  Then 
Hippocrates,  born  in  the  island  of  Cos,  his  father  being  Ascle- 
pius,  brought  it  back  to  the  light  of  day. 

Chapter  4.    On  the  three  schools  (haereses)  of  medicine. 

I.  And  so  these  three  men  founded  as  many  schools.  The 
first,  Methodica,^  was  established  by  Apollo,  and  it  follows 

*  This  school  was  really  founded  in  the  first  century  B.  C  According 
to  it  disease  consists  in  a  contraction  or  relaxation  of  the  pores  (strictus 
status  or  laxus  status).  Nothing  but  the  supposed  general  condition 
of  the  body  was  of  importance.  Neuberger,  Geschichte  der  Medisin, 
vol.  I,  pp.  303-309- 


159]  ^^  MEDICINE  159 

remedies  and  charms.  The  second,  Empirica,^  that  is,  relying 
on  experience,  was  established  by  Aesculapius,  which  depends 
not  on  the  interpretation  of  symptoms,  but  on  experience 
alone.  The  third,  Logica,^  that  is,  rational,  was  invented  by 
Hippocrates. 

2.  For  the  latter,  separating  the  qualities  of  ages,  districts, 
and  diseases,  examined  the  practice  of  the  art  in  a  rational 
way.  The  Empirici,  then,  follow  experience  alone ;  the  Logici 
add  reason  to  experience;  the  Methodici  observe  neither  the 
elements,  nor  seasons,  nor  ages,  nor  causes,  but  the  substances 
of  diseases  alone. 

Chapter  5.    On  the  four  humors  of  the  body. 

1.  Health  is  the  integrity  of  the  body  and  the  compound 
(temperantia)  made  by  nature  from  hot  and  moist  which  is 
the  blood,  whence  also  it  has  been  named  sanitas,  as  it  were 
sanguinis  status  (state  of  the  blood). 

2.  Under  the  general  name  of  morbus  (disease)  all  dis- 
orders of  the  body  are  embraced,  to  which  the  ancients  gave 
the  name  of  morbus  in  order  to  indicate  by  the  very  name  the 
power  of  death  (mortis)  which  arises  from  it.  Between 
health  and  disease  the  mean  is  cure,  and  unless  it  harmonizes 
with  the  disease  it  does  not  lead  to  health. 

3.  All  diseases  arise  from  the  four  humors,  that  is,  from 
blood,  bile,  black  bile,  and  phlegm.  Just  as  there  are  four  ele- 
ments so  also  there  are  four  humors,  and  each  humor  imitates 
its  element:  blood,  air;  bile,  fire;  black  bile,  earth;  phlegm, 
water.  There  are  four  humors,  as  four  elements,  which  pre- 
serve our  bodies. 

4.  Sanguis^  (blood)  took  its  name  from  a  Greek  source, 

^  A  school  that  appeared  in  the  third  century  B.  C,  and  corresponded 
in  medicine  to  the  skeptical  movement  in  philosophy.  All  a  priori 
reasoning  was  rejected.    Ibid.,  vol.  i,  pp.  276-284. 

2  The  classical  school  of  medicine  founded  by  Hippocrates.  Isidore 
fails  to  mention  the  Pneumatici  and  the  Eclectic!  {ihid.,  vol.  i,  pp.  Z^7- 
336),  other  prominent  schools  of  medicine. 

*  The  derivation  which  Isidore  had  in  mind  was  probably  ^vv  (to  live) . 


l6o  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [igo 

because  it  invigorates,  sustains  and  gives  life  to  the  body. 
Cholera  ^  (bile)  the  Greeks  named  because  it  is  ended  in  the 
space  of  one  day,  whence  it  was  named  cholera,  that  is,  felli- 
cula,  that  is,  effusion  of  bile  {fel).  For  the  Greeks  call  bile 
xo'^. 

5.  Melancholia  (black  bile)  is  named  because  an  abundance 
of  bile  has  been  mixed  with  the  dregs  of  black  blood.  .  .  . 

6.  Sanguis  in  the  Latin  is  so-called  because  it  is  suavisj 
whence  men  in  whom  sanguis  is  predominant  are  pleasant  and 
bland. 

7.  Phlegma  they  have  named  because  it  is  cold.  For  the 
Greeks  call  cold  (plkyfiova.  According  to  these  four  humors 
the  well  are  governed,  and  from  them  the  diseases  of  the  in- 
firm arise.  For  when  they  have  grown  too  great  beyond  the 
course  of  nature,  they  cause  illnesses. 

8.  From  blood  and  bile  acute  disorders  come,  which  the 
Greeks  call  b^ka-,  from  phlegm  and  black  bile  troubles  of  long 
standing,  which  the  Greeks  call  xp^^^o,- 

Chapter  6.     On  acute  diseases. 

1.  Oxea  is  acute  disease  which  either  quickly  passes  or 
more  quickly  kills,  as  pleurisy,  phrensy,  for  b^v  in  Greek  means 
swift  and  sharp,  xp^vta  is  prolonged  bodily  disease  which 
lingers  through  many  seasons,  as  gout,  phthisis.  .  .  .  Certain 
disorders  have  received  their  names  from  causes  proper  to 
them. 

2.  Febris  (fever)  is  derived  from  fervor,  for  it  is  an  excess 
of  heat. 

3.  Frenzy  is  so-called  because  the  mind  is  affected,  since 
the  Greeks  call  the  mind  ^pevef,  or  else  because  they  gnash 
(infrendant)  with  the  teeth,  for  frendere  means  to  strike  the 
teeth  together.  It  is  excitement  with  exasperation  and  de- 
mentia caused  by  the  power  of  bile. 

17.  Pestilence  is  a  contagion,  and  when  it  seizes  one  it 
quickly  passes  to  more.    It  is  produced  from  a  corruption  of 

*  The  sentence  is  a  confused  one.  Isidore  probably  had  in  mind  the 
derivation  of  cholera  from  x^^^^  and  ptu. 


l6l]  ON  MEDICINE  l6i 

the  air,  and  makes  its  way  by  penetrating  into  the  inward 
parts.  Although  this  is  generally  caused  by  the  powers  of  the 
air,  still  it  is  certainly  not  caused  against  the  will  of  Omnipo- 
tent God.  ...  It  is  a  disease  so  acute  that  it  affords  no  time 
to  hope  for  life  or  death,  but  a  sudden  weakness  and  death 
come  at  the  same  moment. 

Chapter  7.    On  chronic  diseases. 

3.  Scotoma  took  its  name  from  an  accidental  quality,  be- 
cause it  brings  a  sudden  darkness  to  the  eyes  along  with  a 
whirling  {vertigo)  of  the  head.  Now  there  is  a  whirling  as 
often  as  the  wind  rises  and  starts  the  dust  going  round  and 
round. 

4.  So  too  in  man's  head  the  air  passages  ^  and  the  veins 
produce  a  windiness  from  the  resolving  of  moisture  ^  and 
make  a  whirling  in  his  eyes  whence  vertigo  is  named. 

5.  Epilepsy  took  its  name  because  while  seizing  the  mind  it 
also  holds  the  body.  For  the  Greeks  call  seizure  kTriArnpia, 
And  it  comes  from  the  melancholy  humor  whenever  it  be- 
comes abundant  and  has  turned  toward  the  head.  This  dis- 
order is  also  called  caduca  (the  falling  sickness),  because  the 
sick  man  falls  and  suffers  from  spasms. 

6.  The  common  herd  call  these  also  lunatici  because  their 
madness  *  comes  upon  them  according  to  the  course  of  the 
moon.  .  .  . 

Chapter  8.  On  diseases  that  appear  on  the  surface  of  the 
body. 
II.  Leprosy  is  a  scaly  roughness  of  the  skin,  like  lepidus 
(pepper- wort),  whence  it  took  its  name,  and  its  color  now 
turns  to  black,  now  to  white,  now  to  red.  On  the  body  of  a 
man  leprosy  is  diagnosed  in  this  way,  if  a  varied  color  ap- 

1  Arteriae.  Compare  "  Sanguis  per  venas  in  omne  corpus  diffunditur 
et  spiritus  per  arterias."     Cicero,  N.  D.,  2,  55,  138. 

^  Referring  to  the  idea  that  the  elements  could  pass  into  one  another. 
See  p.  60. 

'  Du  Breul  has  insania  daentonum. 


l62  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [162 

pears  here  and  there  between  sound  parts  of  the  skin,  or  if  it 
spreads  everywhere  in  such  a  way  as  to  make  all  of  one  un- 
natural color. 

12.  The  morbus  elephantiacus^  \s  so  called  from  the  re- 
semblance to  an  elephant,  whose  naturally  hard  and  rough 
skin  gave  the  name  to  the  disease  among  men,  because  it 
makes  the  surface  of  the  body  like  the  hide  of  an  elephant; 
or  it  may  be  because  it  is  a  great  disorder,  like  the  animal 
itself  from  which  it  has  derived  its  name. 

Chapter  9.    On  remedies  and  medicines. 

I.  The  curative  power  of  medicine  must  not  be  despised. 
For  we  remember  that  Isaiah  sent  something  of  medicinal 
nature  to  Hezekiah  when  he  was  sick,  and  Paul  the  apostle 
said  a  little  wine  was  good  for  Timothy. 

3.  There  are  three  kinds  of  cures  in  all.  The  first  is  the 
dietetic;  the  second,  the  pharmaceutical;  the  third,  the  sur- 
gical. Diet  (diaeta)  is  the  observance  of  the  law  of  life. 
Pharmacy  is  curing  by  medicines.  Surgery  is  cutting  with  the 
knife;  for  with  the  knife  is  cut  away  that  which  does  not 
feel  the  healing  of  medicines.  ... 

5.  Every  cure  is  wrought  either  by  contraries  or  by  likes. 
By  contraries,  as  cold  by  warm  and  dry  by  moist,  just  as  in 
man  pride  cannot  be  cured  except  by  humility. 

6.  By  likes,  as  a  round  bandage  is  put  on  a  round  wound, 
or  an  oblong  one  on  an  oblong  wound.  For  the  very  bandage 
is  not  the  same  for  all  wounds,  but  like  is  fitted  to  like.  .  .  . 

7.  Antidotum  in  the  Greek  means  in  the  Latin  ex  contrario 
datum.  For  contraries  are  cured  by  contraries  in  the  medical 
system.  On  the  other  hand  likes  are  cured  by  likes,  as  for 
example,  '^iKpa  which  means  bitters  because  its  taste  is  bitter. 
It  received  a  suitable  name  because  the  bitterness  of  disease  is 
dispelled  by  its  bitterness. 

*  A  kind  of  leprosy. 


163]  ON  MEDICINE  I^^ 

Chapter  13.    On  the  beginning  of  medicine.^ 

1.  Inquiry  is  made  by  certain  why  the  art  of  medicine  is 
not  included  among  the  liberal  disciplines.  Because  of  this, 
that  they  embrace  separate  subjects,  but  medicine  embraces 
all.  For  the  physician  is  commanded  to  know  grammar,  in 
order  to  be  able  to  understand  and  set  forth  what  he  reads. 

2.  In  like  manner  rhetoric,  too,  that  he  may  be  able  to  de- 
fine by  true  arguments  the  diseases  which  he  treats.  More- 
over logic,  to  scrutinize  and  cure  the  causes  of  infirmities  by 
the  aid  of  reason.  So,  too,  arithmetic,  on  account  of  the  num- 
ber of  hours  in  paroxysms  and  of  the  days  in  periods. 

3.  In  the  same  manner  geometry,  on  account  of  the  quali- 
ties of  districts  and  the  situations  of  places,  in  respect  to 
which  it  teaches  what  one  ought  to  observe.  Moreover, 
music  will  not  be  unknown  to  him,  for  there  are  many  things 
that  are  read  of  as  accomplished  by  this  discipline  in  the  case 
of  sick  men,  as  it  is  read  of  David  that  he  saved  Saul  from  an 
unclean  spirit  by  the  art  of  melody.  The  physician  Ascle- 
piades,  too,  restored  one  who  was  subject  to  frenzy  to  his 
former  health  by  music. 

4.  Lastly,  he  will  know  astronomy,  by  which  to  contemplate 
the  system  of  the  stars  and  the  change  of  the  seasons,  for  as 
a  certain  physician  says,  our  bodies  change  too,  along  with  the 
qualities  of  the  heavens.  Hence  it  is  that  medicine  is  called 
"  a  second  philosophy  ".  For  both  disciplines  claim  the  whole 
man.  For  as  by  one  the  soul  is  cured,  so  is  the  body  by  the 
other. 

^De  initio  medicinae. 


BOOK  V 
ON  LAWS  ^ 

INTRODUCTION 

There  was  a  marked  difference  between  the  develop- 
ment of  law  and  that  of  the  other  subjects  so  far  treated 
by  Isidore  in  the  Etymologies.  The  latter  were  of  Greek 
origin,  and,  with  the  exception  of  rhetoric,  they  appeared 
as  strangers  in  the  Roman  environment  and  never  formed 
an  integral  part  of  Roman  culture.  Instead,  they  suffered 
from  continuous  decay,  and  by  the  time  of  the  disintegra- 
tion of  the  Roman  state  they  were  reduced  to  such  a  con- 
dition that  the  "fall  of  Rome  "  meant  nothing  to  them. 
On  the  other  hand,  law  was  an  indigenous  product  of 
Roman  society,  upon  which  the  Roman  intellect  had  ex- 
pended its  greatest  and  most  successful  efforts,  and  al- 
though it  inevitably  shared  in  the  general  intellectual  de- 
terioration of  the  time,  and  showed  a  marked  decline  after 
the  period  of  the  great  jurists,  the  beginning  of  its  rapid 
decay  is  coincident  in  each  section  of  western  Europe  with 
the  close  of  Roman  rule.  Thus  "  the  fall  of  Rome " 
played  much  the  same  part  in  the  history  of  law  as  the 
transition  from  a  Greek  to  a  Roman  environment  had  done 
for  the  bulk  of  the  intellectual  possession  of  the  ancient 
civilization.  After  this  event  law  was  on  terms  of  equality 
with  the  other  branches  of  knowledge,  and  within  two 

^The  De  Legibus  constitutes  Isidore's  formal  account  of  law.  In 
bk.  ii  a  chapter  is  devoted  to  the  subject  of  law  as  a  sub-division  of 
rhetoric;  it  consists  of  definitions  of  general  terms.  In  bk.  ix  there 
are  chapters  on  citizens,  and  on  degrees  of  kinship,  which  have  a  legal 
bearing.    Cf.  also  bk.  xviii,  15. 

164  [164 


l65]  ON  LAWS  i5^ 

centuries,  as  judged  by  its  presentation  in  the  Etymologies, 
it  was  reduced  to  as  low  an  estate  as  they. 

Isidore's  De  Legibus  is  divided  into  two  distinct  parts. 
The  first  is  of  a  general  nature,  and  embraces  such  topics 
as  law-givers,  jus  civile,  jus  gentium,  jus  naturale,  why 
laws  are  made,  and  what  character  a  law  ought  to  have. 
The  second  part  is  more  specific;  it  treats  of  legal  instru- 
ments, the  law  of  property,  crimes,  and  punishments.  The 
whole  forms  a  scholastic  conglomerate  of  elements  derived 
from  every  stage  in  the  development  of  Roman  law  and 
exhibits  a  point  of  view  that  is  philological  and  Christian 
as  much  as  legal. 

Because  of  its  importance  in  the  history  of  law,  this  book 
of  the  Etymologies  has  been  subjected  to  more  detailed 
study  than  any  other,  but  in  spite  of  this  its  sources  have 
not  been  clearly  determined.  In  addition  to  the  Scriptures 
and  Isidore's  authorities  on  word  derivation,  he  is  believed 
to  have  drawn  on  the  Breviarium  Alaricianum,  the  Theo- 
dosian  code,  the  text-books  of  Gains  and  Ulpian,  and  the 
Sentences  of  Paulus.  Although  the  Justinian  code  was  is- 
sued a  century  before  the  compilation  of  the  Etymologies, 
it  seems  improbable  that  Isidore  made  any  use  of  it,  or  had 
even  heard  of  it.^ 

*  Considering  the  intellectual  stagnation  of  the  time,  it  seems  quite 
possible  that  the  Justinian  code  was  unheard  of  wherever  it  was  not 
actually  the  law  of  the  land.  Vinogradoff  gives  the  conclusion  of 
modern  scholarship  as  to  this  when  he  says  (Roman  Law  in  Medieval 
Europe,  London,  1909,  p.  8):  "The  Corpus  Juris  of  Justinian,  which 
contains  the  main  body  of  law  for  later  ages,  including  our  own,  was 
accepted  and  even  known  only  in  the  East  and  in  those  parts  of  Italy 
which  had  been  reconquered  by  Justinian's  generals.  The  rest  of  the 
western  provinces  still  clung  to  the  tradition  of  the  preceding  period, 
culminating  in  the  official  code  of  Theodosius  II  (A.  D.  437)-"  Com- 
pare also  Conrat,  Die  Epitome  Exactis  Regihus,  Introd.,  pp.  248-257; 
Flach,  Droit  Romain  au  Moyen  Age  (Paris,  1890),  especially  pp.  52-57- 
Conrat,  in  his  Geschichte  der  Quellen  und  Literatur  des  Romischen 


1 66  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [i66 

The  purpose  of  the  De  Legihus  was,  no  doubt,  to  serve 
as  a  text-book.^  The  amount  of  space  given  to  it,  which 
is  about  the  average  of  that  allotted  to  each  of  the  liberal 
arts,  and  the  fact  that  it  treats  of  law  in  a  general  way, 
point  to  this  conclusion.  Its  position  in  the  Etymologies, 
following,  with  Medicine,  immediately  after  the  liberal 
arts,  is  also  an  indication  of  its  educational  character.  The 
best  proof  of  this,  however,  is  found  in  the  number  of 
separate  manuscripts  in  which  the  De  Legihus  is  repro- 
duced in  a  catechetical  form.^  At  least  eight  of  these  are 
in  existence,  and  the  earliest  of  them  is  attributed  to  the 
ninth  century. 

EXTRACTS 

Chapter  i.    On  law-givers. 

1.  Moses  first  of  all  set  forth  the  divine  laws  in  the  sacred 
writings  for  the  Hebrew  people.  King  Phoroneus  was  the 
first  to  establish  laws  and  courts  for  the  Greeks. 

2.  Mercurius  Trismegistus  first  gave  laws  to  the  Egyptians. 
Solon  first  legislated  for  the  Athenians.  Lycurgus  first  made 
rules  of  law  for  the  Lacedaemonians  and  pretended  Apollo's 
authority  for  them. 

Rechts  in  Friiheren  Mittelalter,  pp.  150-153,  maintains,  first,  that  there 
is  no  trace  of  evidence  elsewhere  in  Isidore's  works,  of  a  knowledge 
of  the  existence  of  the  Justinian  code;  and,  second,  that  the  internal 
evidence  in  the  De  Legihus  points  to  the  use  of  other  sources.  See 
also  Urefia,  Historic  Critica  de  la  Literatura  Juridica  Espanola  (Mad- 
rid, 1897),  vol   I,  p.  294. 

The  De  Legibus  should  not  be  regarded  as  a  text-book  for  a  law 
school,  but  for  the  subject  of  law  as  forming  a  minor  part  of  the 
preparation  of  a  priest.  See  Introd.,  p.  S7,  and  Flach,  op.  cit.,  the 
fourth  section  of  which  (pp.  104-128)  deals  with  the  teaching  of  law 
from  the  sixth  to  the  eleventh  century. 

*  For  an  account  of  separate  MSS.  of  Isidore's  De  Legihus  (often 
containing  also  legal  matter  from  bks.  ii,  ix  and  xviii),  see  Joseph 
Tardif,  Un  Ahrege  Juridique  des  Etymologies  d' Isidore  de  Seville  in 
Melanges  lulien  Havet  (Paris,  1895). 


16;]  ON  LAWS  167 

3.  Numa  Pompilius,  who  succeeded  Romulus  in  the  king- 
dom, was  the  first  to  give  laws  to  the  Romans.  Later,  when 
the  people  could  not  endure  their  quarrelsome  magistrates 
they  appointed  decemvirs  to  write  the  laws,  and  they  trans- 
lated the  laws  from  the  books  of  Solon  into  the  Latin  lan- 
guage, and  set  them  up  on  twelve  tables. 

4.  These  men  were  A.  Claudius,  T.  Genutius,  P.  Sextius, 
Spur.  Viturius,  C.  Julius,  A.  Manlius,  Ser.  Sulpitius,  P.  Curia- 
tius,  T.  Romilius,  Sp.  Postumius.  These  were  the  decemvirs 
chosen  to  write  the  laws. 

5.  The  consul  Pompeius  was  the  first  who  wished  to  ar- 
range the  laws  systematically,  but  he  did  not  persevere, 
through  fear  of  detractors.  Then  Caesar  began  to  do  it,  but 
he  was  slain. 

6.  By  degrees  the  old  laws  became  obsolete  through  time 
and  neglect ;  but  a  mention  of  them  seems  necessary  although 
they  are  not  in  use  now. 

7.  The  new  laws  began  with  the  emperor  Constantine  and 
the  rest  who  followed  him,  but  they  were  confused  and  in  dis- 
order. Later,  in  imitation  of  Gregorianus  and  Hermogeni- 
anus,  the  younger  Theodosius  arranged  a  code  of  constitu- 
tions from  the  time  of  Constantine,  under  the  title  of  each 
emperor,  which  he  called  Theodosian  from  his  own  name. 

Chapter  2.    On  laws  human  and  divine. 

I.  All  laws  are  either  divine  or  human.  Divine  laws  depend 
on  nature,  human  laws  on  customs;  and  so  the  latter  differ, 
since  different  laws  please  different  peoples.  Divine  law  is 
fas;  human  law  is  jus.  To  pass  through  another's  property 
is  of  divine  but  not  of  human  law. 

Chapter  3.    On  the  difference  between  jus,  leges,  mores. 

1.  Jus  is  the  general  term  and  lex  is  a  kind  of  jus.  Jus  is 
so-called  because  it  is  just  (justum).  All  jus  is  made  up  of 
laws  and  customs. 

2.  Lex  is  the  written  ordinance.  Mos  is  custom  approved 
by  its  antiquity,  or  unwritten  lex.  For  lex  is  derived  from 
leg  ere  (to  read),  because  it  is  written. 


1 68  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [i68 

3.  Mos  is  old  custom  and  is  drawn  merely  from  mores. 
Consuetudo  (custom)  is  a  sort  of  jus  established  by  mores, 
which  is  taken  instead  of  lex  when  lex  fails.  And  it  makes 
no  difference  whether  it  depends  on  writing  or  reason,  since 
reason  commends  written  law  also. 

4.  Moreover  if  lex  is  in  accordance  with  reason,  all  that  is 
in  accordance  with  reason  will  be  lex,  as  far  as  it  agrees  with 
religion,  is  in  harmony  with  knowledge,  and  is  beneficial  for 
salvation.  And  consuetudo  is  so-called  because  it  is  in  com- 
mon use. 

Chapter  4.     On  jus  naturale. 

1.  Jus  is  either  natural,  or  civil,  or  universal  (jus  gentium). 
Jus  naturale  is  what  is  common  to  all  peoples,  and  what  is  ob- 
served everywhere  by  the  instinct  of  nature  rather  than  by 
any  ordinance,  as  the  marriage  of  man  and  woman,  the  be- 
getting and  rearing  of  children,  the  common  possession  of 
all,^  the  one  freedom  of  all,  the  acquisition  of  those  things 
that  are  taken  in  the  air  or  sea  or  on  the  land. 

2.  Likewise  the  restoring  of  property  entrusted  or  lent,  the 
repelling  of  violence  by  force.  For  this,  or  whatever  is  like 
this,  is  nowhere  considered  unjust,  but  natural  and  fair. 

Chapter  5.    On  jus  civile. 

I.  Jus  civile  is  what  each  people  or  state  has  enacted  as  its 
own  law,  for  human  and  divine  reasons. 

Chapter  6.    On  jus  gentium. 

I.  Jus  gentium  is  the  seizing,  building,  and  fortifying  of 
settlements,  wars,  captivities,  servitudes,  postliminies,  treaties, 
peaces,  truces,  the  obligation  not  to  violate  an  ambassador, 
the  prohibition  of  intermarriage  with  aliens.  And  [it  is 
called]  jus  gentium  because  nearly  all  nations  observe  it. 

Chapter  7.    On  jus  militare. 

I.  Jus  militare  is  the  ceremony  of  beginning  war,  the  obli- 
gation in  making  a  treaty,  the  going  out  against  the  enemy 
when  the  signal  is  given,  and  the  joining  of  battle;  likewise 

*  Communis  omnium  possessio. 


169]  ON  LAWS  l6g 

the  retreat  when  the  signal  is  given;  likewise  the  punishment 
of  a  soldier's  fault  if  a  post  should  be  deserted.  Likewise 
the  amount  of  pay,  the  grades  of  office,  and  the  honor  of  re- 
wards, as  when  a  crown  or  a  necklace  is  given. 

2.  Likewise  the  determination  of  the  booty,  and  the  just 
division  according  to  rank  of  persons  and  labors  undergone, 
likewise  the  share  of  the  commander. 

Chapter  8.    On  jus  publicum. 

I.  Jus  publicum  has  to  do  with  sacred  things,  and  priests 
and  magistrates. 

Chapter  9.    On  jus  quiritium. 

1.  Jus  quiritium  is  the  law  proper  to  the  Romans,  by  which 
none  is  bound  but  the  Quirites,  that  is,  the  Romans,  as  in  re- 
gard to  inheritances,  declarations  of  entry  upon  inheritances, 
guardianships,  acquiring  by  prescription;  which  laws  are 
found  among  no  other  people,  but  they  are  proper  to  the 
Romans  and  made  for  them  alone. 

2.  The  jus  quiritium  is  made  up  of  laws,  plebiscites,  decrees 
of  the  senate,  constitutions  and  edicts  of  emperors  and  opin- 
ions of  jurists. 

Chapter  10.    On  lex. 

I.  Lex  is  the  enactment  of  the  people,  by  which  the  elders, 
together  with  the  plebeians,  passed  some  law. 

Chapter  11.    On  plebiscites. 

I.  Plebiscites  (scita)  are  what  the  common  people  alone 
enact.  .  .  . 

Chapter  12.    On  the  senatus  consultum. 

I.  A  senatus  consultum  is  that  which  the  senators  alone 
determine  in  council  for  the  people. 

Chapter  13.    On  the  constitution  or  edict. 

I.  A  constitution  or  edict  is  what  the  king  or  emperor  en- 
acts or  proclaims. 

Chapter  14.     On  the  responses  of  the  jurists  (responsa  pru- 
dentum). 
I.  They  are  the  responses  which  the  jurisconsults  are  said 


lyo  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [170 

to  make  to  men  who  consult  them.  From  this  the  responses 
of  Paulus  were  so  named.  For  there  were  certain  wise  men 
and  judges  of  equity  who  composed  and  published  institu- 
tions of  civil  law,  by  which  they  settled  the  suits  and  conten- 
tions of  disputants. 

Chapter  15.    On  consular  and  tribunitian  laws. 

1.  Certain  laws  are  named  from  those  who  secured  their 
enactment,  as  consular,  tribunitian,  Julian,  Cornelian.  Papius 
and  Poppaeus,  consules  suffecti  ^  under  Caesar  Octavianus, 
carried  a  law  which  was  called  from  their  names  Papia  Pop- 
paea,  offering  rewards  to  fathers  for  rearing  children. 

2.  Under  the  same  emperor,  Falcidius,  a  tribune  of  the 
people,  carried  a  law  that  no  one  should  bequeath  property  in 
such  a  way  that  a  fourth,  at  least,  should  not  remain  for  the 
heirs.  And  it  was  named  the  lex  Falcidia  from  him.  Aquilius 
also  secured  the  passage  of  a  law  which  is  called  Aquilia  to 
the  present  time. 

Chapter  16.    On  the  lex  satyr  a. 

I.  A  lex  satyr  a  is  one  which  speaks  at  the  same  time  of 
many  things,  being  so  called  from  the  abundance  of  things, 
as  it  were  from  saturitas  (fullness)  ;  whence  to  write  satire  is 
to  compose  poems  with  varied  contents,  as  those  of  Horace, 
Juvenal,  and  Persius. 

Chapter  17.    On  the  Rhodian  laws. 

I.  The  Rhodian  laws  are  the  laws  of  commerce  on  the  sea, 
being  so  called  from  the  island  of  Rhodes  where  was  a. great 
trade  in  ancient  times. 

Chapter  18.    On  privileges. 

I.  Privileges  (privilegia)  are  laws  applying  to  individuals, 
private  laws,  as  it  were.  For  privilegium  is  so  called  because 
it  is  applied  to  a  private  person  (in  private  feratur). 

Chapter  19.    What  law  can  do. 

I.  Every  law  either  permits  something,  as  that  a  brave  man 
should  compete  for  a  prize,  or  forbids,  as  that  no  one  should 

*  Holding  the  consulate  for  part  of  the  year  only. 


I7l]  ON  LAWS  jyi 

be  allowed  to  ask  the  sacred  maidens  in  marriage,  or  punishes, 
as  that  he  who  has  committed  murder  should  suffer  capital 
punishment.  For  human  life  is  governed  by  the  reward  or 
punishment  of  the  law.^ 

Chapter  20.    Why  law  was  made. 

I.  Laws  were  made  in  order  that  the  boldness  of  men  may 
be  checked  by  fear  of  them,  and  innocence  be  safe  among  the 
wicked,  and  the  power  of  harm  bridled  among  the  wicked  by 
the  dread  of  punishment. 

Chapter  21.    What  law  ought  to  be. 

I.  Law  will  be  honorable,  just,  possible,  according  to  nature, 
according  to  the  custom  of  the  country,  adapted  to  the  place 
and  time,  necessary,  useful,  clear  also,  lest  it  contain  anything 
in  its  obscurity  that  tends  to  fraud,  drawn  up  for  no  one's 
private  advantage,  but  for  the  common  good  of  all  citizens. 

Chapter  24.    On  legal  instruments. 

1.  Voluntas  (will)  is  the  general  name  for  all  legal  instru- 
ments, and  it  has  received  this  name  because  it  issues  from 
free  will,  not  from  compulsion. 

2.  Testamentum  (will)  is  so  named  because,  unless  the  tes- 
tator dies,  what  is  written  in  it  cannot  be  established  or 
known,  since  it  is  closed  and  sealed;  and  it  is  called  testa- 
mentum because  it  is  not  in  effect  until  the  burial  of  the  tes- 
tator {testatoris  monumentum)  ;  whence  the  Apostle  says: 
Testamentum  in  mortuis  confirmatur. 

3.  Testamentum  has  not  only  this  meaning  in  the  Holy 
Scriptures,  that  it  is  in  effect  only  when  the  testators  are  dead, 
but  they  also  called  every  agreement  (pactum  et  placitum) 
testamentum;  for  Laban  and  Jacob  made  a  testamentum 
which  was  certainly  to  be  in  effect  while  they  were  living. 
And  in  the  Psalms  is  read:  Adversum  te  testamentum  dispo- 
suerunt;  and  many  others  of  the  sort. 

4.  The  tabulae  of  a  will  are  so  called  because  not  only  wills 
but  letters  were  written  on  hewn  tabulae  (boards)  before 
paper  and  parchment  were  used.  Whence  letter-carriers  are 
called  tabularii. 

^  Reading  legis  for  eius.    See  2,  10. 


172  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [172 

5.  The  testament  of  the  civil  law  is  made  valid  by  the  sig- 
nature of  five  witnesses. 

6.  The  testament  of  the  praetorian  law  is  sealed  with  the 
seals  of  seven  witnesses ;  the  former  testament  is  made  in  the 
presence  of  citizens,  and  from  that  is  called  civile;  the  latter 
in  the  presence  of  the  praetors,  and  thence  is  of  the  prae- 
torian law. 

7.  A  testamentum  holographum  is  one  wholly  written  and 
signed  in  the  hand-writing  of  the  maker.  From  this  it  got  its 
name.  For  the  Greeks  use  the  word  biov  for  whole,  and 
ypat^ij  for  writing. 

8.  A  testament  has  no  legal  force  if  its  maker  has  forfeited 
his  civil  rights,  or  if  it  has  not  been  made  in  due  form. 

9.  A  testament  is  inoMciosum  where  an  attempt  has  been 
made  to  disinherit  the  children  and  recourse  has  been  had  to 
persons  outside  [the  family]  without  regard  to  the  duty  of 
natural  affection.^ 

ID.  The  testamentum  ruptum  is  so  named  because  it  is 
made  void  through  the  birth  of  a  posthumous  child  who  is 
neither  disinherited  nor  made  an  heir  by  name. 

11.  A  testament  is  suppressed  when  it  is  not  publicly  made 
known,  to  the  injury  of  heirs  or  legatees  or  freedmen;  and 
although  it  is  not  kept  secret,  it  nevertheless  is  thought  to  be 
suppressed  if  it  is  not  made  known  to  the  aforesaid  persons. 

12.  Nuncupatio  (nuncupative  will)  is  when  the  testator 
reads  the  will  aloud,  saying :  "  These  things  I  thus  give  and 
bequeath  as  they  are  written  on  these  tablets  and  on  this  wax ; 
and  do  you  Roman  citizens  be  my  witness  ",  and  this  is  called 
nuncupatio.  For  nuncupare  means  to  name  and  confirm 
openly. 

13.  The  jus  liber orum  is  the  right  of  childless  couples  to 
name  each  other  as  heir  in  the  place  of  children. 

23.  Emptio  (purchase)  and  venditio  (sale)  is  an  exchange 
of  goods  and  a  contract  arising  from  agreement. 

24.  Emptio  (purchase)  is  so  called  because  it  is  a  me  tibi 
(from  me  to  you)  ;  venditio  is  as  it  were  venundinatio ,  that 
is,  from  nundinae  (market  day). 

1  See  Muirhead,  The  Law  of  Rome,  p.  249. 


173]  ^^  TIMES  173 

2y.  Donatio  usufructuaria  is  so  named  because  the  giver 
retains  the  usufruct  of  the  thing,  the  title  vesting  in  him  to 
whom  it  has  been  given. 

Chapter  25.    On  property  (rebus). 

3.  Res  is  derived  from  possessing  rightly  (recte)  ;  jus 
from  possessing  justly  (juste).  .  .  .  What  is  wickedly  pos- 
sessed is  not  the  owner's.  He  possesses  wickedly  who  uses  his 
own  wickedly  or  takes  possession  of  another's.  ...  He  who 
is  captured  by  greed  is  possessed,  not  possessing. 

4.  Bona  belong  to  the  honorable  or  noble,  and  they  are 
called  bona  so  that  they  may  not  have  a  base  use  but  men  may 
use  them  for  good  things. 

5.  Peculium  belongs  properly  to  minors  or  slaves.  For 
peculium  is  that  which  the  father  or  master  allows  his  son  or 
slave  to  treat  as  his  own.  .  .  . 


ON  TIMES  ^ 

INTRODUCTION 

To  the  early  and  medieval  Christian  chronology  was 
a  subject  of  absorbing  interest.  For  him  the  course  of  the 
world's  history  was  authoritatively  laid  down  in  the  Biblical 
account,  and  looking  back  over  it  he  thought  he  saw  that 

*  In  his  "  On  Times,"  Isidore  is  apparently  condensing  what  he  has 
written  elsewhere.  The  first  part  of  it,  which  gives  an  account  of  the 
divisions  of  time — the  moment,  hour,  day,  week,  month,  year,  and  so 
forth — is  drawn  from  De  Natura  Rerum,  which  in  turn  was  based  on 
Suetonius,  Solinus,  Hyginus,  of  the  heathen  writers,  and  Ambrosius, 
Clement,  and  Augustine,  of  the  Christian,  (See  p.  46.)  In  the  second 
part,  which  consists  of  a  brief  chronology,  Isidore  condensed  his 
Chronicon,  which  was  drawn  from  Eusebius  as  translated  and  modi- 
fied by  Jerome,  and  supplemented  by  the  later  work  of  Prosper,  Victor 
Tunnensis,  and  Joannis  Biclarensis.  The  sources  of  the  Chronicon 
have  been  thoroughly  discussed  by  H.  Hertzberg,  Ueber  die  Chronicon 
des  Isidors  von  Sevilla  in  Forschungen  sur  Deutschen  Geschichte 
(Gottingen,  1875),  vol.  xv. 


174  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [174 

it  was  passing  by  well-marked  stages  to  an  end  that  was  to 
be  as  sharply  defined  as  its  beginning  had  been.  It  was 
inevitable  that  there  should  be  an  attempt  to  plot  its  pro- 
gress and  even  to  form  some  general  notion  as  to  its  end. 
For  this  purpose  the  Greek  chronology  was  accepted  in  its 
entirety  and  extended  by  a  set  of  extravagant  assumptions, 
acceptable  to  the  uncritical  minds  of  the  time,  back  to  the 
beginning  of  the  world.  By  this  means  an  authoritative 
chronological  exposition  of  past  time  was  secured,  such  as 
under  wise  interpretation  would  disclose  more  clearly  the 
rate  and  manner  in  which  God's  purpose  was  working  itself 
out.^ 

The  chronology  presented  by  Isidore  traces  the  course 
of  time  along  the  line  of  the  Roman  emperors  from  Her- 
aclius  back  to  Julius  Caesar,  and  then  by  way  of  the  Ptol- 
emaic dynasty  to  Alexander  the  Great.  Here  a  transition 
is  made  to  the  Persian  kings,  who  are  followed  back  to 
Darius  near  the  beginning  of  the  fifth  age.  The  four  ages 
between  the  captivity  of  the  Jews  and  the  creation  are 
marked  by  Biblical  personages  only. 

There  are  two  matters  of  importance  to  be  noted  in  con- 
nection with  the  De  Temporihus.^  Isidore  is  the  first  to 
introduce  into  formal  chronology  the  division  of  the 
world's  history  into  six  ages.     The  idea  was  not  his,  how- 

*  At  the  same  time  chronology  was  incidentally  made  to  show  in  a 
statistical  way  what  a  great  priority  Hebrew  civilization  had  over  its 
pagan  rivals.    Cf.  pp.  79,  80. 

'  In  some  respects  Isidore's  chronology  is  peculiar,  and  differs  from 
any  known  chronology  of  world-history  of  the  time.  For  example, 
where  Hieronymus  gives  the  time  from  the  flood  to  Abraham  as  1072 
years,  Isidore  gives  it  as  942  years ;  and  where  Af  ricanus  put  the  birth 
of  Christ  in  the  year  5500  of  the  world,  Isidore  put  it  in  5197.  See 
Hertzberg,  p.  376.  Again,  only  the  full  years  are  noticed,  the  frac- 
tions of  the  older  chronologies  being  either  counted  as  integers  or 
ignored,  though  this  is  not  done  according  to  any  system.  For  table 
showing  irregularities  here,  see  ihid.,  p.  325,  notes  3  and  4. 


175]  ^^  TIMES  175 

ever ;  he  was  merely  putting  into  practice  a  suggestion  given 
repeatedly,  in  Augustine's  writings/  and  used  by  Orosius 
in  his  History  Against  the  Pagans.  In  the  second  place, 
it  should  be  remarked  that  Isidore  shows  no  signs  of  being 
aware  of  the  proposal  of  Dionysius  Exiguus  for  an  era 
beginning  with  the  birth  of  Christ.  It  is  true  that  Isidore's 
sixth  age  is  supposed  to  begin  at  that  time, — although  as 
a  matter  of  fact  it  begins  at  the  death  of  Julius  Caesar,^ — 
but  his  era  is  a  world  era  beginning  at  the  creation. 

EXTRACTS 

Book  V,  Chapter  28.    On  the  word  chronica. 

I.  Chronica  is  the  Greek  word  which  in  Latin  is  rendered 
series  temporum  (succession  of  times),  such  as  Eusebius, 
bishop  of  Caesarea,  wrote  in  Greek  and  the  priest  Hierony- 
mus  translated  into  Latin ;  for  xp^voq  in  Greek  is  translated  by 
tempus  in  the  Latin. 

Chapter  29.    On  moments  and  hours. 

1.  Time  is  divided  into  moments,  hours,  days,  months, 
years,  lusters,  generations  {saecula),  ages.  A  moment  is  the 
least  and  briefest  time,  so-called  from  the  motion  (motu)  of 
the  stars. 

2.  .  .  .  Hora  is  a  Greek  name  and  still  has  a  Latin  sound. 
For  hora  is  a  limit  (finis)  of  time,  just  as  horae  are  the  limits 
of  the  sea  and  of  streams  and  the  borders  of  garments.' 

Chapter  30.    On  days. 

5.  The  days  are  named  from  the  gods  (dii)  whose  names 
the  Romans  bestowed  on  certain  heavenly  bodies.  They 
named  the  first  day  from  Sol,  which  is  the  chief  of  the 
heavenly  bodies  just  as  this  same  day  is  the  chief  of  all  the 
days. 

1  E.  g.  De  Civitate  Dei,  xxii,  30. 

'  5,  38,  5. 

•  Hora   (hour)  and  ora   (coast  or  border)  are  confused. 


1 76  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [  1 75 

6.  The  second  they  named  from  Luna,  which  is  next  to  Sol 
in  splendor  and  size  and  borrows  its  light  from  it.  The  third 
they  named  from  the  star  of  Mars,  which  is  called  Pyrois; 
the  fourth,  from  the  star  of  Mercurius,  which  certain  ones 
name  Stilbon. 

7.  The  fifth,  from  the  star  of  Jupiter,  which  they  call 
Phaeton;  the  sixth,  from  the  star  of  Venus,  which  they  call 
Lucifer,  which  has  more  light  than  all  the  other  stars. 

The  seventh  day,  from  the  star  of  Saturnus,  which  being 
placed  in  the  seventh  heaven  is  said  to  complete  its  course  in 
thirty  years.  And  the  heathen  gave  names  to  the  days  from 
the  seven  stars  because  they  thought  that  some  influence  was 
active  upon  themselves  through  the  same  [stars],  saying  that 
they  had  life  (spiritus)  from  Sol,  body  from  Luna,  ability  and 
eloquence  from  Mercurius,  pleasure  from  Venus,  blood  from 
Mars,  self-control  (temperantia)  from  Jupiter,  and  the 
humors  from  Saturn.  Such  indeed  was  the  folly  of  the 
heathen  who  created  such  ridiculous  imaginations.  But  among 
the  Hebrews  the  first  day  is  called  una  Sahhati,  which  among 
us  is  dies  Dominicus,  which  the  heathen  have  dedicated  to  Sol. 
The  second  day  of  the  week  is  secunda  Sahhati,  which  the 
heathen  call  dies  Lunae;  the  third  day  of  the  week,  tertia  Sah- 
hati, which  they  call  dies  Martis;  the  fourth  day  of  the  week, 
quarta  Sahhati,  which  is  called  Mercurii  dies  by  the  pagans; 
the  fifth  day  of  the  week,  quinta  Sahhati,  that  is,  fifth  day 
from  dies  Dominicus,  which  among  the  heathen  is  called  dies 
Jovis;  the  sixth  day  of  the  week,  sexta  Sahhati,  which  is  called 
by  them  di?s  Veneris.  The  seventh  from  dies  Dominicus  is 
Sahhatum,  which  the  gentiles  have  devoted  to  Saturnus  and 
have  named  dies  Saturni.  Sabbatum  is  translated  from  the 
Hebrew  into  the  Latin  as  requies,  because  God  rested  on  that 
day  from  all  his  works. 

The  ecclesiastical  method  of  speaking  the  names  of  the  days 
comes  better  from  the  lips  of  Christians;  still,  if  custom 
should  perchance  influence  anyone  so  that  what  he  disap- 
proves of  in  his  heart  comes  forth  from  his  mouth,  let  him 
know  that  all  those  from  whom  these  days  were  named  were 


177]  ^^  TIMES  177 

men,  and  on  account  of  certain  services  of  a  human  sort 
(mortalia)j  since  they  were  very  powerful  and  were  promi- 
nent in  this  world,  divine  honors  were  bestowed  on  them  by 
their  admirers,  both  in  respect  to  the  days  and  the  stars,  but 
first  the  stars  were  named  after  men  and  then  the  days  were 
named  after  the  stars. 

Chapter  31.    On  night. 

I.  Nox  is  derived  from  nocere  (to  injure)  because  it  in- 
jures the  eyes.  And  it  has  the  light  of  the  moon  and  stars 
in  order  that  it  may  not  be  without  beauty,  and  that  it  may 
comfort  all  who  work  by  night,  and  that  the  light  may  be 
sufficiently  tempered  for  certain  creatures  that  cannot  en- 
dure the  light  of  the  sun. 

3.  Night  is  caused  either  because  the  sun  is  worn  out  with 
his  long  journey  and  is  weary  when  he  comes  to  the  last 
stretch  of  heaven  and  blows  out  his  weakened  fires;  or  be- 
cause he  is  driven  under  the  lands  with  the  same  force  with 
which  he  carried  his  light  over  them,  and  thus  the  shadow  of 
the  earth  makes  night.  >  Whence  Virgilius  says: 

Ruit  Oceano  nox 
Involvens  umbra  magna  terramque  polumque. 

Chapter  33.    On  months. 

1.  The  word  mensis  is  Greek,  being  derived  from  the  word 
for  moon.  For  in  the  Greek  language  the  moon  is  called  n-frvv) 
whence  among  the  Hebrews  the  regular  (legitimi)  months  are 
reckoned  not  from  the  circle  of  the  sun,  but  from  the  course 
of  the  moon,  which  is  from  new  moon  to  new  moon. 

2.  Because  of  the  swifter  course  of  the  moon  and  the  fear 
that  an  error  of  reckoning  might  arise  because  of  its  speed, 
the  Egyptians  began  to  reckon  the  day  of  the  month  from  the 
course  of  the  sun,  since  the  slower  course  of  the  sun  could 
be  comprehended  more  easily. 

Chapter  34.    On  the  solstices  and  equinoxes. 

2.  There  are  two  solstices:  first,  the  summer  solstice,  eight 
days  before  the  Kalends  of  July,  from  which  time  the  sun 


1 78  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [  i  ^g 

begins  to  return  to  the  lower  circles;  the  second,  the  winter 
solstice,  eight  days  before  the  Kalends  of  January,  when  the 
sun  begins  to  make  for  the  higher  circles,  whence  the  day  of 
the  winter  solstice  is  the  shortest  and  that  of  the  summer  sol- 
stice the  longest. 

3.  Likewise  there  are  two  equinoxes:  one  in  the  spring 
and  the  other  in  the  autumn,  which  the  Greeks  call  larifiepiai. 
These  equinoxes  are  the  eighth  day  before  the  Kalends  of 
April  and  the  eighth  day  before  the  Kalends  of  October,  be- 
cause the  year  formerly  was  divided  into  two  parts  only,  that 
is,  into  the  summer  and  the  winter  solstice,  and  into  two 
hemispheres. 

Chapter  35.    On  the  seasons. 

1.  There  are  four  seasons  of  the  year:  spring,  summer, 
autumn,  winter.  And  they  are  called  seasons  (tempora) 
from  tempering,^  since  they  are  tempered  in  turn  by  moisture, 
dryness,  heat,  and  cold. 

2.  It  is  known  that  after  the  creation  of  the  universe  the 
seasons  were  divided  into  three  months  each,  according  to  the 
quality  of  the  sun's  course.  .  .  .  And  the  ancients  make  the 
following  divisions  of  these  seasons :  in  the  first  month  spring 
is  called  novum,  in  the  second,  adultum,  in  the  third,  praeceps.^ 

yS.  These  seasons  are  assigned  also  to  separate  parts  of 
the  heavens.  The  spring  is  given  to  the  Orient,  because  then 
all  things  arise  (oriuntur)  from  the  earth;  summer  to  the 
South,  because  its  division  is  more  intense  in  its  heat;  winter 
to  the  North,  because  it  is  torpid  with  colds  and  perpetual 
frost ;  autumn  to  the  Occident,  because  it  has  serious  diseases 
Whence,  too,  the  leaves  of  the  trees  fall.  The  bordering  of 
cold  and  heat  and  the  contending  of  opposite  airs  causes  the 
autumn  to  abound  in  diseases. 

Chapter  36.     On  years. 

I.  The  year  is  the  circle  of  the  sun  when  it  returns  to  the 

*  A  communionis  temperamento. 

*  So  in  the  case  of  summer,  autumn,  and  winter. 


179]  ^^  TIMES  lyg 

same  place  in  relation  to  the  stars,  after  three  hundred  and 
sixty-five  days.  ... 

3.  There  are  three  kinds  of  years.  For  the  year  is  the 
lunar,  of  thirty  days,  the  solstitial,  which  contains  twelve 
months,  or  the  great  year,  when  all  the  planets  return  to  the 
same  place,  which  happens  after  many  solstitial  years. 

Chapter  38.    On  generations  and  ages. 

5.  Age  (aetas)  is  used  properly  in  two  ways:  for  it  is  either 
the  age  of  man,  as  infancy,  prime,  old  age;  or  the  age  of  the 
world,  whose  first  age  is  from  Adam  to  Noe;  the  second, 
from  Noe  to  Abraham;  the  third,  from  Abraham  to  David; 
the  fourth,  from  David  to  the  migration  of  Judah  to  Babylon ; 
the  fifth,  from  then  to  the  coming  of  the  Saviour  in  the  flesh ; 
the  sixth,  which  is  now  in  progress  and  which  will  continue 
until  the  world  is  ended. 

6.  Julius  Africanus  was  the  first  of  our  [writers]  to  set 
forth  in  the  style  of  simple  history,  in  the  time  of  Marcus 
Aurelius  Antoninus,  the  passing  of  these  ages  by  generations 
and  reigns.  Then  Eusebius,  bishop  of  Caesarea,  and  the 
priest  Hieronymus  of  holy  memory,  published  a  complex  his- 
tory of  chronological  tables,  using  reigns  and  dates  at  the 
same  time.^ 

7.  Then  others,  among  them  especially  Victor,  bishop  of  the 
church  of  Tununa,  reviewed  the  histories  of  earlier  writers 
and  filled  out  the  deeds  of  subsequent  ages  down  to  the  con- 
sulate of  the  second  emperor  Justinus. 

8.  We  have  noted  with  what  brevity  we  could  the  total  of 
these  times  from  the  beginning  of  the  world  to  the  emperor 
Augustus  Heraclius  and  Suinthilanus,  king  of  the  Goths, 
adding  at  the  side  a  column  of  dates  by  the  evidence  of  which 
the  total  of  past  time  may  be  known. 

^  The  reference  in  "complex  history"  (compUcem  historiam)  is  to 
the  parallel  sets  of  chronological  tables  of  the  histories  of  different 
peoples  given  by  Eusebius. 


l8o  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [igo 

Chapter  39.    On  the  ordering  of  times  (chronology).^ 

1.  The  first  age  contains  at  its  beginning  the  creation  of  the 
world.  On  the  first  day  under  the  name  of  light  God  created 
the  angels;  on  the  second,  under  the  name  of  firmament,  the 
heavens;  on  the  third,  under  the  name  of  parting,  the  waters 
and  the  land;  on  the  fourth  day,  the  lights  of  heaven;  on  the 
fifth,  living  things  of  the  waters;  on  the  sixth,  living  things 
of  the  land  and  man,  whom  he  called  Adam. 

[Years] 

2.  Adam  in  his  230th  year  begat  Seth,  from  whom 
[sprang]  the  children  of  God.  230 

Seth  in  his  205th  year  begat  Enos,  who  began  to  call 

upon  the  name  of  the  Lord.  435 

Enos  in  his  190th  year  begat  Cainan.  625 

Cainan  in  his  170th  year  begat  Malaleel.  795 

Second  Age 

5.  Sem  in  the  second  year  after  the  flood  begat  Ar- 
phaxad,  from  whom  sprang  the  Chaldeans.  2244 

Arphaxad  in  his  135th  year  begat  Sala,  from  whom 
sprang  the  Samaritans  and  Indians.  2379 

Sala  in  his  130th  year  begat  Heber,  from  whom 
sprang  the  Hebrews.  2509 

6.  Heber  in  his  144th  year  begat  Phaleg.  The  tower 

was  built.  2643 

*  Sufficient  of  Isidore's  chronology  is  translated  to  give  an  idea  of  its 
method  and  of  the  events  mentioned  in  it.  His  dates  for  the  six  ages 
of  the  world  are  as  follows : 

First  age      o — 2242. 

Second  age  2242—3184. 

Third  age     3184—4125. 

Fourth  age  4125—4610. 

Fifth  age      4610—5155- 

Sixth  age      5i55— ? 

The  world  according  to  Isidore's  chronology  was  in  its  5825th  year. 
Although  Isidore  professes  to  start  the  sixth  age  with  the  birth  of 
Christ,  he  really  starts  it  with  the  beginning  of  the  reign'  of  Augustus. 
See  Chronicon;  Migne,  P.  L.,  vol.  83,  col.  1038. 


l8l]  ON  TIMES  l8i 

Phaleg  in  his  130th  year  begat  Ragan.  The  gods 
are  first  worshiped.  2773 

Ragan  in  his  132nd  year  begat  Seruch.  The  king- 
dom of  the  Scythians  begins.  2905 

7.  Seruch  in  his  130th  year  begat  Nachor.  The 
king  of  the  Egyptians  appears.  3035 

Nachor  in  his  79th  year  begat  Tharam.  The  king- 
dom of  the  Scythians  and  the  Sycionii  appears.  31 14 

Tharam  in  his  70th  year  begat  Abraham.  Zoroaster 
discovered  magic.  3184 

Third  Age 

12.  Abdon  ruled  eight  years.  Troy  was  captured.  4025 
Samson  ruled  twenty  years.  Ascanius  founded  Alba.  4045 
The  priest  Eli  ruled  forty  years.     The  ark  of  the 

covenant  was  captured.  4085 

Samuel  ruled  forty  years.  Homer  is  believed  to 
have  lived  at  this  time.  4125 

Fourth  Age 

13.  David  ruled  forty  years.     Carthage  is  founded 

by  Dido.    Gad,  Nathan  and  Asaph  prophesied.  4165 

Solomon  ruled  forty  years.  The  temple  at  Jerusa- 
lem was  built.  4205 

Fifth  Age 

19.  The  captivity  of  the  Hebrews,  seventy  years. 
Judith  writes  history.  4680 

Darius,  thirty-four  years.  The  captivity  of  the  Jews 
is  ended.  47^4 

Xerxes,  twenty  years.  The  tragedians  Sophocles 
and  Euripides  are  famous.  4734 

20.  Artaxerxes,  forty  years.  Esdras  renews  the  law 
which  was  burned.  4774 

Darius,  called  also  Nothus,  nineteen  years.  This 
time  possessed  Plato  and  Gorgias,  the  first  teacher  of 
rhetoric.  4793 


l82  •  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [182 

25.  Ptolemaeus,  eight  years.     The  art  of  rhetoric 
begins  at  Rome.  51 18 
Dionysius,  thirty  years.  Pompey  takes  Judaea.  5148 

Cleopatra,  two  years.  Egypt  is  conquered  by  the 
Romans.  5150 

Julius  Caesar,  five  years.  He  was  the  first  to  pos- 
sess sole  authority.  5155 

Sixth  Age 

26.  Octavian,  fifty-six  years.  Christ  is  born.  521 1 
Tiberius,  twenty-three  years.  Christ  is  crucified.  5234 
Caius   Caligula,    four   years.      Matthew   wrote   his 

gospel.  5238 

2y.  Claudius,  fourteen  years.     Mark  published  his 

gospel.  5252 

Nero,  fourteen  years.     Peter  and  Paul  are  put  to 

death.  5266 

Vespasian,  ten  years.    Jerusalem  was  destroyed  by 

Titus.  5276 

41.  Tiberius,  six  years.  The  Lombards  take  Italy.  5779 
Mauritius,  twenty-one  years.     The  Goths  become 

Catholic.  5800 

Phocas,  eight  years.  The  Romans  are  defeated  by 
the  Persians.  5808 

42.  Eraclius  is  now  governing  the  empire  in  his  seventeenth 
year. 

The  Jews  in  Spain  are  being  made  Christian.     The  re- 
mainder of  the  sixth  age  is  known  to  God  alone. 


BOOKS  VI-VIII 
THEOLOGY  ^ 

INTRODUCTION 

After  the  five  books  devoted  to  the  seven  liberal  arts 
there  follow  three  which  are  grouped  together  by  unity  of 
subject  and  are  sharply  differentiated  from  the  remainder 
of  the  Etymologies,  which  is  prevailingly  secular  in  tone. 
The  contents  of  these  three  form  a  summary  of  the  non- 
secular  thought  of  the  time.^  Their  presence  in  the  midst 
of  an  encyclopedia  of  secular  learning  is  to  be  explained, 
as  we  have  seen,  by  the  probability  that  their  purpose  was 
educational,  and  that  they  are  to  be  regarded  as  the  texts 
of  the  final  stage  in  the  priestly  training.  They  thus  form 
the  conclusion  of  Isidore's  educational  encyclopedia.^ 

*  These  three  books  are  not  grouped  by  Isidore  under  one  name. 
There  apparently  was  no  name  in  existence  by  which  to  designate 
them,  as  theologia  was  not  applied,  commonly  at  least,  to  Christian 
doctrine  before  Abelard's  time. 

'  The  sources  of  bks.  vi-viii  differ  from  those  of  the  remaining  books 
of  the  Etymologies  in  being  almost  exclusively  Christian.  Isidore  him- 
self, in  his  non-secular  writings,  covers  more  fully  the  subjects  which 
he  here  treats  in  a  summary  fashion.  Compare  bk.  vi,  chaps,  i  and  2, 
with  Proemia  in  Lihros  Veteris  ac  Novi  Testamenti;  bk.  vii,  chaps.  6 
and  7,  with  Expositiones  Mysticorum  Sacramentorum  and  De  Ortu  et 
Obitu  Patrum;  bk.  viii,  chaps.  1-5,  with  Sententiarum  Libri  Tres;  bk. 
vi,  chap.  19,  and  bk.  vii,  chaps.  12,  13,  with  De  Ecclesiasticis  OMciis. 

3  See  pp.  43,  86. 

183]  183 


l84  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [184 

ANALYSIS 

I.  The  books  and  services  of  the  Church  (Book  VI). 

1.  The  Old  and  New  Testaments  (ch.  i). 

2.  The  writers  and  names  of  the  holy  books  (ch.  2). 

3.  Books  (chs.  3-14). 

a.  Libraries. 

b.  Translators. 

c.  Writers  of  many  books. 

d.  Kinds  of  books. 

e.  Writing  materials. 

4.  The  canons  of  the  Gospels  (ch.  15). 

5.  The  canons  of  the  Councils  (ch.  16). 

6.  The  Easter  cycle  and  other  feasts  (ch.  17). 

7.  The  services  of  the  Church  (ch.  18). 

II.  God,  the  angels  and  the  orders  of  the  faithful  (Book 
VII). 

1.  God  (ch.  i). 

2.  The  Son  of  God  (ch.  2). 

3.  The  Holy  Spirit  (ch.  3). 

4.  The  Trinity  (ch.  4). 

5.  The  angels  (ch.  5). 

6.  The  meaning  of  biblical  names  (chs.  6-10). 

7.  Martyrs  (ch.  11). 

8.  The  clergy  (ch.  12). 

9.  Monks  (ch.  13). 

10.  The  remainder  of  the  faithful  (ch.  14). 
III.  The  Church  and  the  different  sects  (Book  VIII). 

1.  The  Church  and  the  synagogue  (ch.  i). 

2.  Religion  and  faith  (ch.  2). 

3.  Heresy  (chs.  3-5). 

a.  The  heresies  of  the  Jews. 

b.  The  heresies  of  the  Christians. 

4.  Heathen  philosophers  (ch.  6). 

5.  Poets  (ch.  7). 


l85]  THEOLOGY  185 

6.  Sibyls  (ch.  8). 

7.  Magi  (ch.  9). 

8.  Pagans  (ch.  10). 

9.  Heathen  gods  (ch.  11). 


BOOK  VI 
On  the  Books  and  Services  of  the  Church 

extracts 

Chapter  i.  On  the  Old  and  New  Testaments. 

1.  The  Old  Testament  is  so-called  because  when  the  New 
came  it  was  at  an  end,  of  which  the  Apostle  speaks:  Vetera 
transierunt,  et  ecce  facta  sunt  omnia  nova. 

2.  The  New  Testament  is  so-called  because  it  brings  in  the 
new.  For  men  do  not  learn  it,  except  those  renewed  from 
their  former  state  through  grace  and  now  belonging  to  the 
New  Testament,  which  is  the  kingdom  of  heaven. 

3.  The  Hebrews  accept  on  Esdras'  authority  twenty-two 
books  of  the  Old  Testament,  according  to  the  number  of  their 
letters,^  dividing  them  into  three  series,  namely,  the  Law,  the 
Prophets,  and  the  Hagiographi. 

4.  The  first  series  of  the  Law  is  accepted  in  five  books,  of 
which  the  first  is  Beresith,  which  is  Genesis ;  the  second,  Veele 
Samoth,  which  is  Exodus;  the  third,  Vaicra,  which  is  Leviti- 
cus; the  fourth,  Vajedabber,  which  is  Numbers;  the  fifth, 
EUeaddebarim,  which  is  Deuteronomy. 

6.  The  second  series  is  that  of  the  Prophets,  in  which  eight 
books  are  contained,  of  which  the  first  is  Josue  Ben-Nun, 
which  in  Latin  is  called  Jesu  Nave ;  the  second,  Sophtin,  which 
is  Judges ;  the  third,  Samuel,  which  is  the  first  of  Kings ;  the 
fourth,  Malachim,  which  is  the  second  of  Kings;  the  fifth, 
Isaias;  the  sixth,  Jeremias;  the  seventh,  Ezechiel;  the  eighth, 

1  Of  the  alphabet. 


l86  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [i86 

Thereazer,  which  is  called  *  Of  the  Twelve  Prophets,'  which 
books  are  taken  as  one  since  they  are  placed  together  on  ac- 
count of  their  brevity. 

7.  The  third  is  the  series  of  the  Hagiographi,  that  is,  those 
who  write  what  is  holy,  in  which  are  nine  books,  of  which 
the  first  is  Job;  the  second,  the  Psalms;  the  third,  Misse, 
which  is  the  Proverbs  of  Solomon;  the  fourth,  Cohaleth, 
which  is  Ecclesiastes ;  the  fifth.  Sir  Hassirim,  which,  is  the 
Song  of  Songs;  the  sixth,  Daniel;  the  seventh,  Dibrehajamin, 
which  is  Verba  dierum,  i.  e.,  Paralipomenon  (Chronicles)  ; 
the  eighth,  Esdras;  the  ninth,  Esther.  And  all  of  these 
together,  five,  eight,  and  nine,  make  twenty-two  just  as  they 
were  inclusively  given  above. 

8.  Certain  add  Ruth  and  Cinoth,  which  in  the  Latin  is 
Lamentatio  Jeremiae,  to  the  hagiographa  and  make  twenty- 
four  volumes  of  the  Old  Testament,  like  the  twenty-four 
elders  who  stand  in  the  sight  of  the  Lord. 

9.  There  is  with  us  a  fourth  series  consisting  of  those  books 
of  the  Old  Testament  which  are  not  in  the  Hebrew  canon. 
Of  which  the  first  is  the  book  of  Wisdom  (Sapientiae)  ;  the 
second,  Ecclesiasticus ;  the  third,  Thobias ;  the  fourth,  Judith ; 
the  fifth  and  sixth,  of  the  Machabees.  Although  the  Jews 
set  these  aside  as  apocryphal,  still  the  church  of  Christ  honors 
and  preaches  them  among  the  divine  books. 

10.  In  the  New  Testament  are  two  series:  first  the  Evan- 
gelic, in  which  are  Matthew,  Mark,  Luke  and  John;  second, 
the  apostolic,  in  which  are  Paul  in  fourteen  epistles,  Peter  in 
two,  John  in  three,  James  and  Jude  in  one  each,  the  Acts  of 
the  Apostles  and  the  Apocalypse  of  John. 

11.  Moreover  the  whole  of  each  Testament  is  triply  divided, 
that  is,  into  history,  morals,  and  allegory.  Again  those  three 
have  many  divisions,  for  example,  what  was  done  and  said  by 
God,  what  by  the  angels,  or  by  men,  what  was  foretold  by  the 
prophets  of  Christ  and  his  body;  what  of  the  devil  and  his 
members;  what  of  the  old  and  the  new  people;  what  of  the 
present  age,  and  the  coming  kingdom,  and  the  judgment. 


l87]  THEOLOGY  187 

Chapter  2.    On  the  writers  and  names  of  the  sacred  books. 

I.  These  are  said  to  be  the  authors  of  the  Old  Testament 
according  to  the  Hebrew  tradition.  First  Moses  wrote  a 
cosmography  of  divine  history  in  five  volumes,  which  is 
named  Pentateuch. 

8.  The  book  of  Josue  received  its  name  from  Jesus,  son  of 
Nave,  whose  history  it  contains,  and  the  Hebrews  assert  that 
the  same  Josue  was  its  writer,  in  the  text  of  which,  after  the 
crossing  of  the  Jordan,  the  kingdoms  of  the  enemy  are  over- 
thrown and  the  land  divided  among  the  people,  and  by  the 
separate  cities,  villages,  mountains  and  boundaries  the  spirit- 
ual realms  of  the  church  and  the  heavenly  Jerusalem  are  pre- 
figured. 

18.  Solomon,  son  of  David,  king  of  Israel,  wrote  three  vol- 
umes according  to  the  number  of  his  names,  of  which  the  first 
is  in  Hebrew  Misle,  which  the  Greeks  name  Parabolae,  the 
Latins,  Proverbia,  because  in  it  he  sets  forth  figurative  ex- 
pressions and  likenesses  of  the  truth  under  the  form  of  a 
parallel. 

19.  The  truth  itself  he  has  reserved  to  its  readers  to  under- 
stand. The  second  book  is  called  Coheleth,  which  in  the  Greek 
is  Ecclesiastes,  in  Latin,  Concionator,  because  its  discourse  is 
not  especially  addressed  to  one,  as  in  Proverbs,  but  gener- 
ally to  all,  teaching  that  all  things  which  we  see  in  the  universe 
are  perishable  and  short-lived,  and  for  this  reason  little  to  be 
desired. 

20.  The  third  book  he  called  Sir  hassirim,  which  is  trans- 
lated Cantica  Canticorum  in  the  Latin,  where  in  a  marriage 
song  he  sings  in  mystic  fashion  the  union  of  Christ  and  the 
church.  .  .  . 

21.  The  songs  in  these  three  books  are  said  to  be  written  in 
hexameter  and  pentameter  verse  as  Josephus  and  Hieronymus 
say. 

40.  These  are  the  four  Evangelists  whom  the  holy  spirit 
indicated  in  Ezechiel  in  the  four  animals.  And  there  are  four 
animals,  because  the  faith  of  the  Christian  religion  is  spread 
by  their  preaching  through  the  four  quarters  of  the  world. 


1 88  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [i88 

41.  And  they  were  called  animals  (animalia)  because  the 
Gospel  of  Christ  is  preached  by  them  on  account  of  the  soul 
(anima)  of  man.  And  they  were  full  of  eyes  within  and 
without,  since  they  perceive  that  what  was  said  by  the  prophets 
and  what  had  been  promised  was  being  fulfilled. 

42.  And  their  legs  were  straight  because  there  is  nothing 
crooked  in  the  Gospels.  And  as  for  the  six  wings  apiece  that 
cover  their  legs  and  faces,  those  things  which  were  hid  are 
revealed  at  the  coming  of  Christ. 

50.  These  are  the  writers  of  the  sacred  books  who,  speak- 
ing by  the  holy  spirit  for  our  edification,  wrote  both  the  pre- 
cepts of  living  and  the  rule  for  believing. 

51.  In  addition  to  these  there  are  other  volumes  called  apoc- 
rypha, and  they  are  called  apocrypha,  that  is,  set  aside,  be- 
cause they  are  doubted.  For  their  origin  is  hidden  and  was  not 
clear  to  the  Fathers  from  whom  the  authority  of  the  genuine 
scriptures  has  come  down  to  us  by  a  most  certain  and  well- 
known  tradition.  In  these  apocrypha,  although  some  truth 
is  found,  there  is  no  canonic  authority,  on  account  of  the  many 
things  that  are  false,  and  it  is  rightly  judged  by  the  wise  that 
they  ought  not  to  be  believed  [to  be  the  work]  of  those  to 
whom  they  are  ascribed. 

52.  For  many  [works]  were  brought  forward  by  the  her- 
etics under  the  name  of  the  prophets,  and  many  of  later 
origin  under  the  name  of  the  apostles,  and  all  of  those  after 
careful  examination  were  separated  from  the  authority  of 
the  canon,  under  the  name  of  apocrypha. 

Chapter  4.    On  translators. 

1.  This  man  [Ptolemy  Philadelphus]  asked  Eleazer  the 
high-priest  for  the  Scriptures  of  the  Old  Testament,  and  had 
them  translated  from  Hebrew  into  Greek  by  seventy  trans- 
lators, and  kept  them  in  the  library  of  Alexandria. 

2.  Being  placed  separately  in  separate  cells  they  so  trans- 
lated all,  by  the  influence  of  the  holy  spirit,  that  nothing  was 
found  in  the  text  of  any  one  of  them,  that  was  different  in 
the  rest,  even  in  the  order  of  the  words. 

5.  The  priest,  Hieronymonus,  being  expert  in  the  three  Ian- 


189]  THEOLOGY  l3^ 

guages,  translated  the  Scriptures  also  from  Hebrew  into  Latin 
and  expressed  them  with  eloquence,  and  his  translation  is 
rightly  preferred  to  the  rest.  For  it  is  nearer  to  the  literal, 
and  plainer  because  of  the  clearness  of  its  expression,  and 
truer,  as  being  done  by  a  Christian  translator. 

Chapter  7.    Those  who  wrote  much. 

1.  Marcus  Terentius  Varro  among  the  Latins  wrote  in- 
numerable books.  Among  the  Greeks  also  Chalcenterus  is  ex- 
tolled with  marvelous  praises  because  he  wrote  so  many  books 
that  no  one  of  us  could  even  copy  in  his  own  hand-writing  as 
many  works  of  other  men. 

2.  Of  our  own  writers,  too,  among  the  Greeks,  Origen  in 
his  toil  upon  the  Scriptures  surpassed  both  Greeks  and  Latins 
in  the  number  of  his  works.  Hieronymus  asserts  that  he  had 
read  6,000  of  his  books. 

3.  However  Augustine  surpassed  the  zeal  of  all  these  by 
his  genius  and  wisdom.  For  he  wrote  so  much  that  no  one  is 
able  in  the  days  and  nights  even  to  read  his  books,  far  less  to 
write  them. 

Chapter  16.    On  the  canons  of  the  councils. 

5.  Among  the  rest  of  the  councils  we  know  there  are  four 
venerable  synods  which  embrace  the  whole  faith  in  its  chief 
heads,  like  the  four  Gospels  or  the  four  rivers  of  Paradise. 

6.  Of  these  the  first,  the  Nicene  synod  of  318  bishops,  was 
held  when  Constantine  was  emperor.  In  it  the  blasphemy  of 
the  Arian  perfidy  was  condemned,  which  the  same  Arius 
gave  utterance  to  concerning  the  inequality  of  the  holy  Trin- 
ity. The  same  holy  synod  in  the  creed  defined  God  the  son  as 
consubstantial  with  God,  the  father. 

7.  The  second  synod  of  150  fathers  gathered  at  Constan- 
tinople under  Theodosius  the  elder,  and  condemning  Mace- 
donius,  who  denied  that  the  Holy  Spirit  was  God,  proved  that 
the  Holy  Spirit  was  consubstantial  with  the  Father  and  the 
Son,  giving  the  form  of  the  creed  which  the  whole  confession, 
Greek  and  Latin,  preaches  in  the  churches. 

8.  The  third  synod,  the  first  of  Ephesus,  of  200  bishops. 


IQO  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [i^O 

was  held  under  Theodosius  II,  and  it  condemned  with  a  just 
anathema  Nestorius,  who  asserted  that  there  were  two  per- 
sons in  Christ,  and  showed  that  the  one  person  of  the  Lord 
Jesus  Christ  was  immanent  in  the  two  natures. 

9.  The  fourth  synod  of  630  priests  was  held  at  Chalcedon 
under  Martianus,  and  it  condemned  by  the  unanimous  vote  of 
the  fathers  Euthyches,  abbot  of  Constantinople,  who  as- 
serted that  the  nature  of  the  Word  of  God  and  of  flesh  was 
one,  and  his  defender,  Dioscorus,  bishop  of  Alexandria,  and 
Nestorius  himself  a  second  time,  along  with  the  remaining 
heretics,  the  same  synod  stating  that  Christ  the  Lord  was  so 
born  of  the  virgin  that  we  confess  in  him  the  substance  both 
of  the  divine  and  of  the  human  nature. 

These  four  are  the  principal  synods,  stating  most  fully  the 
doctrine  of  faith;  and  whatever  councils  there  are  which  the 
holy  Fathers,  full  of  the  spirit  of  God,  have  ratified,  after 
the  authority  of  these  four,  they  continue  established  in  all 
strength. 

Chapter  17.    The  cycle  of  Easter. 

10.  After  the  completion  of  this  [95-year  cycle]  ^  a  return 

*  This  passage  is  preceded  by  a  table  indicating  the  date  of  Easter  for 
95  years  (627-721).  It  is  clear  that  although  Isidore  was  not  acquainted 
with  the  plan  of  Dionysius  Exiguus  to  institute  the  Christian  era,  he 
was  acquainted  with  the  essentials  of  his  Easter  table.  Dionysius  had 
given  the  dates  for  Easter  in  five  19-year  cycles,  dating  from  525;  in 
Isidore  this  is  continued  for  the  years  627  to  721.  Isidore's  table  con- 
sists merely  of  parallel  columns  of  the  days  of  the  month  and  corres- 
ponding days  of  the  moon  on  which  Easter  fell.  Each  date  is  marked 
C  or  E,  abbreviations  for  commums  annus  and  embolismus  which  de- 
scribe respectively  the  year  of  twelve  and  that  of  thirteen  lunar  months 
in  use  in  the  Hebrew  chronology.  A  further  abbreviation,  B,  stands 
opposite  each  fourth  year,  to  mark  the  leap-years.  The  years  are  not 
numbered  according  to  any  era,  and  the  assignment  of  dates,  627-721, 
is  inferred  from  the  dates  given  for  Easter.  See  Ideler,  Chronologic, 
vol.  ii,  p.  290  (Berlin,  1826).  Isidore  does  not  make  it  plain  that  he 
understood  the  mathematics  of  the  computation  of  Easter.  It  is  of 
interest  that  in  643  the  fourth  synod  of  Toledo  passed  an  enactment 
to  secure  a  common  observance  of  Easter  throughout  the  Spanish 
churches,  no  doubt  according  to  this  Easter-table.  See  Gams,  Die 
Kirchengeschichte  von  Spanien  (Regensburg,  1874),  vol.  ii,  part  2, 
p.  94. 


191  ]  THEOLOGY  I^I 

must  be  made  to  the  beginning.  In  ancient  times  the  church 
used  to  celebrate  Easter  on  the  14th  of  the  moon  at  the  same 
time  as  the  Jews,  whatever  day  it  came  on;  this  way  of  cele- 
brating the  holy  Fathers  forbade  at  the  council  of  Nicaea, 
giving  directions  to  make  inquiry  not  only  for  the  Easter 
moon  and  month,  but  also  to  observe  the  day  of  the  resurrec- 
tion of  the  Lord,  and  because  of  this  they  extended  Easter 
from  the  14th  of  the  moon  to  the  21st,  in  order  that  the  dies 
Dominicus  might  not  be  left  out. 

12.  The  eve  of  Easter  is  spent  in  watching  because  of  the 
coming  of  our  King  and  God,  that  the  time  of  the  resurrec- 
tion may  find  us  not  sleeping  but  waking.  And  the  reason  for 
this  night  is  a  double  one,  either  because  he  received  life  at 
that  time  when  he  suffered,  or  because  he  is  to  come  for  judg- 
ment at  the  same  hour  at  which  he  arose. 

13.  And  we  celebrate  Easter  in  such  a  way  as  not  merely  to 
call  to  memory  the  death  and  resurrection  of  Christ  but  also 
to  consider  the  rest  that  is  told  about  him  with  reference  to 
its  mystic  meaning  (ad  sacramentorum  significationem) . 

14.  For  on  account  of  beginning  the  new  life,  and  on  ac- 
count of  the  new  man  which  we  are  bidden  to  put  on  and  to 
put  off  the  old,  purging  away  the  old  ferment  in  order  that  we 
may  be  a  new  sprinkling  (conspersio),  since  Christ  is  sacri- 
ficed as  our  Pascha  (Passover)  ;  on  account  of  this  newness 
of  life,  then,  the  first  month  in  the  months  of  the  year  is  mys- 
tically assigned  to  the  Easter  festival. 

15.  And  that  Easter  is  celebrated  on  a  day  in  the  third 
week,  that  is,  a  day  that  occurs  between  the  fourteenth  and 
twenty-first,  this  signifies  that  in  the  whole  time  of  the  world, 
which  is  based  on  the  unit  of  seven  days,  this  mystery  has  now 
opened  a  third  time. 

16.  For  the  first  time  is  before  the  law,  the  second  under 
the  law,  the  third  under  grace.  Wherein  the  mystery  before 
hidden  in  the  prophetic  allegory  is  now  plain,  and  the  resur- 
rection of  the  Lord  is  on  the  third  day  on  account  of  these 
three  periods  of  the  world. 

17.  As  to  the  fact  that  Easter  day  is  sought  through  seven 


ig2  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [192 

days  from  the  fourteenth  to  the  twenty-first,  this  is  done  on 
account  of  the  number  seven,  by  which  the  meaning  of  com- 
pleteness is  often  figured,  which  is  also  assigned  to  the  church 
itself  because  it  is  universal.  For  this  reason  also  John,  the 
apostle,  writes  to  the  seven  churches. 

18.  And  by  the  name  of  the  moon  in  the  Scriptures,  on  ac- 
count of  its  mutability  it  is  signified  that  the  church  as  yet 
is  established  [only]  in  the  mortality  of  the  flesh. 

19.  An  observance  of  different  opinions  as  to  the  feast  of 
Easter  sometimes  produces  error.  For  the  Latins  seek  for 
the  moon  of  the  first  month  from  the  third  day  before  the 
Nones  of  March  to  the  third  before  the  Nones  of  April,  and 
if  the  fourteenth  day  of  the  moon  comes  on  Sunday,  they 
postpone  Easter  to  another  Sunday. 

20.  The  Greeks  observe  the  moon  of  the  first  month  from 
the  eighth  before  the  Ides  of  March  to  the  day  of  the  Nones 
of  April,  and  if  the  fifteenth  day  of  the  moon  comes  on  the 
Lord's  day,  they  celebrate  Easter.  A  difference  of  this  sort 
between  them  disturbs  the  regularity  of  the  Easter  canon. 


BOOK  VII 
On  God,  the  Angels,  and  the  Orders  of  the  Faithful 

extracts 

Chapter  i.    On  God. 

1.  The  most  blessed  Hieronymus,  a  man  of  the  greatest 
learning  and  skilled  in  many  languages,  first  rendered  into 
the  Latin  language  the  meaning  of  the  Hebrew  names.  And 
leaving  out  many  for  brevity,  I  propose  to  insert  certain  of 
them  in  this  work  with  their  meanings  in  addition. 

2.  For  the  explanation  of  words  sufficiently  indicates  what 
they  mean.  For  certain  have  the  reason  for  their  names  in 
peculiar  causes.  And  at  the  beginning  we  set  down  ten  names 
by  which  God  is  called  among  the  Hebrews.  .  .  . 


193]  THEOLOGY  1^3 

Chapter  5.     On  angels. 

2.  The  word  angel  is  the  name  of  a  function,  not  of  a 
nature ;  for  they  are  always  spirits,  but  are  called  angels  when 
they  are  sent. 

3.  And  the  license  of  painters  makes  wings  for  them  in 
order  to  denote  their  swift  passage  in  every  direction,  just  as 
also  in  the  fables  of  the  poets  the  winds  are  said  to  have  wings 
on  account  of  their  velocity.  .  .  . 

4.  The  sacred  writings  testify  that  there  are  nine  orders  of 
angels,  namely,  angels,  archangels,  thrones,  dominions,  vir- 
tues, principalities,  powers,  cherubim  and  seraphim.  And  we 
shall  explain  by  derivation  why  the  names  of  these  functions 
were  so  applied. 

5.  Angels  are  so  called  because  they  are  sent  down  from 
heaven  to  carry  messages  to  men.  .  .  . 

6.  Archangels  in  the  Greek  tongue  means  summi  nuntii  in 
the  Latin.  For  they  who  carry  small  or  trifling  messages  are 
called  angels;  and  they  who  announce  the  most  important 
things  are  called  archangels.  .  .  .  Archangels  are  so  called 
because  they  hold  the  leadership  among  angels.  .  .  .  For  they 
are  leaders  and  chiefs  under  whose  control  services  are  as- 
signed to  each  and  every  angel. 

17.  Certain  functions  of  angels  by  which  signs  and  wonders 
are  done  in  the  world  are  called  virtues,  on  account  of  which 
the  virtues  are  named. 

18.  Those  are  powers  to  whom  hostile  virtues  are  subject, 
and  they  are  called  by  the  name  of  powers  because  evil  spirits 
are  constrained  by  their  power  not  to  harm  the  world  as  much 
as  they  desire. 

19.  Principalities  are  those  who  are  in  command  of  the 
hosts  of  the  angels.  And  they  have  received  the  name  of 
principality  because  they  send  the  subordinate  angels  here  and 
there  to  do  the  divine  service.  .  .  . 

20.  Dominions  are  they  who  are  in  charge  even  of  the  vir- 
tues and  principalities,  and  they  are  called  dominions  because 
they  rule  the  rest  of  the  hosts  of  the  angels. 

21.  Thrones  are  the  hosts  of  angels  who  in  the  Latin  are 


194  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [194 

called  sedes;  and  they  are  called  thrones  because  the  creator 
presides  over  them,  and  through  them  accomplishes  his  de- 
cisions. 

22.  Cherubim  .  .  .  are  the  higher  hosts  of  angels  who, 
being  placed  nearer,  are  fuller  of  the  divine  wisdom  than  the 
rest.  .  .  . 

24.  The  seraphim  in  like  manner  are  a  multitude  of  angels, 
and  the  word  is  translated  from  the  Hebrew  into  the  Latin 
as  ardent es  or  incendentes,  and  they  are  called  ardentes  be- 
cause between  them  and  God  no  other  angels  stand,  and  there- 
fore the  nearer  they  stand  in  his  presence  the  more  they  are 
lighted  by  the  brightness  of  divine  light. 

25.  And  they  veil  the  face  and  feet  of  God  sitting  on  his 
throne,  and  therefore  the  rest  of  the  throng  of  angels  are  not 
able  to  see  fully  the  essence  of  God,  since  the  seraphim  cover 
him. 

28.  To  each  and  every  one,  as  has  been  said  before,  his 
proper  duties  are  appointed,  and  it  is  agreed  that  they  obtained 
these  according  to  merit  at  the  beginning  of  the  world.  That 
angels  have  charge  over  both  places  and  men,  an  angel  testi- 
fies through  the  prophet,  saying :  "  Princeps  regni  Persarum 
mihi  restitit "  (Dan.  x.  13). 

29.  Whence  it  is  evident  that  there  is  no  place  that  angels 
have  not  charge  of.  They  have  charge  also  over  the  begin- 
nings of  all  works. 

30.  Such  is  the  order  or  classification  of  the  angels  who 
after  the  fall  of  the  wicked  stood  in  celestial  strength.  For 
after  the  apostate  angels  fell,  these  were  established  in  the 
continuance  of  eternal  blessedness. 

32.  As  to  the  two  seraphim  that  are  read  of  in  Isaiah,  they 
show  in  a  figure  the  meaning  of  the  Old  and  the  New  Testa- 
ment. But  as  to  their  covering  the  face  and  feet  of  God,  it 
is  because  we  cannot  know  the  past  before  the  universe,  nor  the 
future  after  the  universe,  but  according  to  their  testimony  we 
contemplate  only  the  intervening  time. 


195]  THEOLOGY  195 

Chapter  6.    On  men  who  received  prophetic  names. 

1.  Most  of  the  men  of  early  times  have  the  origin  of  their 
names  in  appropriate  causes.  And  their  names  have  been 
given  in  such  a  prophetic  way  that  they  are  in  harmony  with 
either  their  future  or  their  antecedent  causes. 

2.  However  we  shall  now  examine  merely  their  literal 
meaning  in  history,  without  touching  on  the  inner  meaning  of 
the  spirit. 

Chapter  II.    On  martyrs. 

4.  There  are  two  kinds  of  martyrs,  one  in  open  suffering, 
the  other  in  the  hidden  virtue  of  the  spirit.  For  many,  en- 
during the  lyings-in-wait  of  the  enemy  and  resisting  all  carnal 
desires,  have  become  martyrs  even  in  time  of  peace,  because 
they  have  sacrificed  themselves  in  their  heart  to  the  omnipo- 
tent God,  and  if  they  had  lived  in  time  of  persecution,  they 
could  have  been  martyrs  in  reality. 

Chapter  12.    On  the  clergy. 

4.  The  order  of  bishops  is  four-fold,  namely,  patriarchs, 
archbishops,  metropolitans,  and  bishops. 

5.  Patriarch  in  the  Greek  tongue  means  highest  of  the 
fathers,  because  he  holds  the  first,  that  is,  the  Apostolic  place, 
and  he  is  honored  by  such  a  name  because  he  holds  the  high- 
est office,  as  for  example,  the  patriarch  of  Rome,  Antioch  or 
Alexandria. 


196  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [iq5 

BOOK  VIII  ^ 

The  Church  and  the  Different  Sects 

extracts 

Chapter  i.    On  the  church  and  the  synagogue. 

4.  The  church  began  at  the  place  where  the  holy  spirit 
came  from  heaven  and  filled  those  who  were  sitting  together. 

5.  In  view  of  its  present  sojourn  in  strange  parts  the  church 
is  called  Sion,  because  from  the  distant  viewpoint  of  this  so- 
journ it  contemplates  the  promise  of  heavenly  things,  and 
therefore  it  has  received  the  name  Sion,  that  is,  contemplation. 

6.  Moreover  in  view  of  the  peace  of  the  future  land  it  is 
called  Jerusalem,  for  Jerusalem  means  vision  of  peace.  For 
there,  all  suffering  ended,  it  shall  possess  with  near  contem- 
plation the  peace  which  is  Christ. 

Chapter  3.    On  heresy. 

1.  Haeresis  is  so-called  in  the  Greek  from  choosing,  be- 
cause, forsooth,  each  one  chooses  for  himself  what  seems  to 
him  to  be  better,  as  the  Peripatetic  philosophers,  the  Acad- 
emic, the  Epicureans,  and  the  Stoics,  or  as  others  who,  follow- 
ing perverse  belief,  have  departed  from  the  church  of  their 
own  free  will. 

2.  And  so  heresy  is  named  in  the  Greek  from  its  meaning 
of  choice,  since  each  at  his  own  will  chooses  what  he  pleases 
to  teach  or  believe.  But  we  are  not  permitted  to  believe  any- 
thing of  our  own  will,  nor  to  choose  what  someone  has  be- 
lieved of  his. 

1  It  is  worth  noticing  that  in  bks.  vii  and  viii  Isidore  gives  a  list  of  the 
whole  hierarchy  of  supernatural  and  human  existences  beginning  with 
God  and  ending  with  the  devil.  An  inspection  of  the  order  of  subjects 
will  suggest  to  the  reader  that  he  was  arranging  them  in  order  of 
merit.  If  this  supposition  is  correct,  the  table  of  contents  of  these 
two  books  is  a  very  significant  one,  as  throwing  light  upon  Isidore's 
scale  of  values  for  the  divine,  the  human  and  the  demonic. 


197]  THEOLOGY  ip^ 

3.  We  have  God's  apostles  as  authorities,  who  did  not 
themselves  of  their  own  will  choose  anything  of  what  they 
should  believe,  but  they  faithfully  transmitted  to  the  nations 
the  teaching  received  from  Christ.  And  so,  even  if  an  angel 
from  heaven  shall  preach  otherwise,  he  shall  be  called  ana- 
thema. 

Chapter  5.    On  the  heresies  of  the  Christians. 

69.  There  are  also  other  heresies  ^  without  founders  or 
names :  some  of  whom  believe  that  God  has  three  forms ;  and 
others  say  that  the  divinity  of  Christ  is  capable  of  suffering: 
and  others  set  a  date  in  time  to  the  generation  of  Christ  by 
the  Father.  Others  believe  that  by  the  descent  of  Christ  the 
liberation  of  all  ^  in  the  lower  regions  was  accomplished; 
others  deny  that  the  soul  is  the  image  of  God;  others  think 
that  souls  are  changed  to  demons  and  to  animals  of  every 
sort;  others  hold  different  views  about  the  constitution  of  the 
universe;  others  think  there  are  innumerable  universes; 
others  make  water  co-eternal  with  God;  others  go  on  their 
bare  feet ;  others  do  not  eat  in  company  with  men. 

70.  These  heresies  have  arisen  against  the  catholic  faith 
and  have  been  condemned  beforehand  by  the  apostles  and  the 
holy  fathers,  or  by  the  councils,  and  while  they  are  not  con- 
sistent with  one  another,  being  divided  among  many  different 
errors,  they  still  conspire  with  one  assent  against  the  church 
of  God.  But  whoever  understands  the  holy  Scripture  other- 
wise than  as  the  sense  of  the  Holy  Spirit,  by  whom  it  was 
written,  demands,  though  he  do  not  withdraw  from  the  church, 
he  can  be  still  called  a  heretic. 

Chapter  6.    On  the  heathen  philosophers. 

I.  Philosophers  are  so-called  by  a  Greek  name,  which  in 
Latin  means  amatores  sapientiae.  For  he  is  a  philosopher 
who  has  a  knowledge  of  divine  and  human  things,  and  keeps 
wholly  to  the  way  of  right  living. 

*  A  list  of  heresies  precedes. 

'  Du  Breul,  hominum  instead  of  omnium. 


198  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [igg 

2.  The  name  of  the  philosophers  is  said  to  have  first  origi- 
nated with  Pythagoras.  For  when  the  ancient  Greeks  boast- 
fully named  themselves  sophists,  that  is,  wise  men,  or  teachers 
of  wisdom,  he  was  asked  what  he  professed  to  be,  and  he 
modestly  replied  that  he  was  a  philosopher,  that  is,  lover  of 
wisdom,  since  to  make  a  profession  of  wisdom  seemed  very 
arrogant. 

3.  And  so  in  later  times  it  became  the  practice  to  give  only 
the  name  of  philosopher,  no  matter  how  great  the  learning  in 
matters  pertaining  to  wisdom  each  seemed  to  himself  or  to 
others  to  possess.  And  these  philosophers  are  divided  into 
three  classes:  for  they  are  either  natural  philosophers  {phy- 
sici),  or  moral  (ethici),  or  rational  (logici). 

4.  The  natural  philosophers  are  so-called  because  they  treat 
of  nature.  .  .  . 

5.  The  moral  philosophers  are  so-called  because  they  dis- 
cuss morals.  .  .  . 

6.  The  rational  philosophers  are  so  named  because  they  add 
reason  to  nature  and  morals.  .  .  .  These  are  divided  into  their 
schools,  some  having  names  from  their  founders,  as  Platonici, 
Epicurei,  Pythagorici;  others  from  their  places  of  meeting, 
as  Peripatetici,  Stoici,  Academici, 

7.  The  Platonici  are  named  from  the  philosopher  Plato. 
They  assert  that  God  is  the  creator  of  souls,  the  angels  of 
bodies ;  they  say  that  after  many  cycles  of  years  souls  return 
to  different  bodies. 

9.  [The  Stoics]  assert  that  no  one  is  happy  without  virtue. 
They  claim  that  every  sin  is  equally  sinful,  saying :  "  He  is 
as  guilty  who  steals  chaff  as  he  who  steals  gold,  he  who  kills 
a  waterfowl  as  he  who  kills  a  horse;  for  it  is  not  the  thing 
but  the  spirit  (non  animal  sed  animus)  that  makes  the  sin." 

10.  These  also  say  that  the  soul  perishes  with  the  body. 
They  love  the  virtue  of  self-control,  and  seek  eternal  glory 
although  they  assert  that  they  are  not  immortal. 

11.  The  Academici  are  named  from  Academia,  Plato's 
villa  at  Athens,  where  he  taught.  These  believe  that  all  things 
are  uncertain;  but  although  it  must  be  admitted  that  many 


199]  THEOLOGY  j^ 

things  which  God  willed  to  surpass  the  understanding  of 
man,  are  uncertain  and  hidden  from  us,  yet  there  are  very- 
many  things  which  can  be  received  by  the  senses  and  appre- 
hended by  man. 

15.  The  Epicureans  are  named  from  Epicurus,  a  certain 
philosopher,  a  lover  of  vanity  not  of  wisdom,  whom  the  very 
philosophers  themselves  called  a  swine  because  he  wallowed  in 
carnal  filth  and  asserted  that  bodily  pleasure  was  the  highest 
good,  and  even  said  that  the  universe  was  not  formed  and 
ruled  by  a  divine  Providence. 

16.  But  he  assigned  the  origin  of  things  to  atoms,  that  is, 
to  indivisible  material  bodies,  from  the  chance  combination 
of  which  all  things  arise  and  have  arisen.  He  said  that  God 
did  nothing,  that  all  things  are  corporeal,  that  the  soul  is  not 
diif erent  from  the  body.  And  so  he  said,  "  I  shall  not  exist 
after  I  die." 

22.  These  errors  of  the  philosophers  have  given  rise  also  to 
heresies  in  the  church.  .  .  . 

23.  When  it  is  said  that  the  soul  perishes,  Epicurus  is 
honored;  and  the  denial  of  the  resurrection  of  the  flesh  is 
taken  from  all  the  philosophers ;  and  where,  matter  is  put  on 
an  equality  with  God,  it  is  the  teaching  of  Zeno;  and  where 
anything  is  read  about  a  God  of  fire,  Heraclitus  comes  in. 
The  same  material  is  used  and  the  same  errors  are  embraced 
over  and  over  by  heretics  and  philosophers. 

Chapter  7.    On  poets. 

1.  Tranquillus  thus  tells  why  poets  were  so  named:  "When 
men  putting  off  savagery  first  began  to  have  a  settled  mode  of 
life  and  to  obtain  a  knowledge  of  themselves  and  their  gods, 
they  contrived  a  modest  way  of  living  and  necessary  words 
for  themselves,  but  sought  for  magnificence  in  each  for  the 
worship  of  their  gods. 

2.  And  so,  just  as  they  made  temples  more  beautiful  than 
the  homes  of  that  time,  and  images  larger  than  men's  bodies, 
so  they  thought  that  [the  gods]  must  be  honored  with  an  elo- 
quence even  more  stately,  and  they  extolled  their  merits  in 
splendid  words  and  pleasure-giving  verse." 


200  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [200 

10.  The  function  of  a  poet  is  in  this,  that  by  the  aid  of  a 
figurative  and  indirect  mode  of  speech  he  gracefully  changes 
and  transforms  to  a  different  aspect  what  has  really  taken 
place.  But  Lucan  is  not  placed  in  the  number  of  poets  be- 
cause he  seems  to  have  composed  a  history,  not  a  poem. 

Chapter  8.    On  the  sibyls. 

3.  The  most  learned  authors  relate  that  there  were  ten 
Sibyls.  Of  whom  the  first  was  the  Persian;  the  second,  the 
Libyan;  the  third,  the  Delphian,  born  in  the  temple  of  the 
Delphian  Apollo,  who  foretold  the  Trojan  wars  and  very 
many  of  whose  verses  Homer  inserted  in  his  work ;  the  fourth, 
the  Cimmerian  in  Italy;  the  fifth,  the  Erythraean,  Herophyla 
by  name,  born  in  Babylon,  who  foretold  to  the  Greeks  on  their 
way  to  Ilium  that  they  would  perish  and  Homer  would  write 
lies ;  she  was  called  Erythraean  because  her  verses  were  found 
in  that  island;  the  sixth,  the  Samian.  .  .  . 

5.  The  seventh,  the  Sibyl  of  Cumae,  who  brought  nine 
books  to  Tarquinius  Priscus  in  which  were  written  the  secrets^ 
of  Rome.  .  .  . 

6.  The  eighth,  the  Sibyl  of  Hellespont,  born  in  Trojan  ter- 
ritory, who  is  said  to  have  lived  in  the  days  of  Solon  and 
Cyrus.  .  .  .  The  ninth,  who  prophesied  at  Ancyra.  The 
tenth,  the  Sibyl  of  Tibur,  Albunea  by  name. 

7.  Verses  of  all  these  are  published,  in  which  it  is  mani- 
festly proved  that  they  wrote  many  things  about  God  and 
Christ  and  the  heathen.  The  Erythraean  Sibyl,  however,  is 
said  to  be  the  most  celebrated  and  famous  of  them  all. 

Chapter  9.     On  the  magi. 

1.  The  first  of  the  magi  was  Zoroaster,  king  of  the  Bac- 
trians,  whom  Ninus,  king  of  the  Assyrians,  slew  in  battle, 
and  of  whom  Aristotle  writes  that  on  the  evidence  of  his 
works  it  is  clear  that  he  composed  2,000,000  verses. 

2.  This  art  was  enlarged  by  Democritus  many  centuries 
later  when  Hippocrates  was  famous  for  his  knowledge  of 
medicine.  .  .  . 

*  Reading  secreta  for  decreta. 


20l]  THEOLOGY 


201 


3.  And  so  this  vanity  of  the  magic  arts  flourished  during 
many  generations  in  the  whole  world  by  the  teaching  of  the 
bad  angels,  through  a  certain  knowledge  of  the  future  and 
the  summoning  up  of  infernal  spirits.  Their  inventions  are 
divinations,  auguries,  the  so-called  oracles,  and  necromancy. 

4.  And  there  is  no  miracle  in  the  feats  of  the  magicians, 
whose  arts  of  wickedness  reached  such  perfection  that  they 
actually  resisted  Moses  by  wonders  very  like  his,  turning 
twigs  to  serpents  and  water  to  blood. 

5.  It  is  said  that  there  was  a  very  famous  magician,  Circe, 
who  turned  Ulysses'  companions  into  beasts.  We  also  read 
of  a  sacrifice  which  the  Arcadians  offered  to  their  god 
Lycaeus  when  all  who  ate  of  it  were  changed  to  the  shapes  of 
beasts. 

6.  And  it  is  plain  that  the  famous  poet  wrote  of  a  certain 
woman  who  excelled  in  the  magic  arts :  "  She  promises  to 
soothe  by  her  charms  the  minds  of  whomsoever  she  wishes, 
and  to  cause  others  cruel  anxieties ;  to  stay  the  current  in  the 
stream,  to  turn  the  stars  back.  She  summons  the  spirits  of 
the  dead  at  night;  you  shall  hear  the  earth  bellow  beneath 
your  feet  and  see  the  ash  trees  come  down  the  mountain 
side."  ^ 

7.  Why  should  I  tell  further  of  the  sorceress — if  it  is  right 
to  believe  it — how  she  summoned  the  soul  of  the  prophet 
Samuel  from  the  secret  places  of  hell  and  presented  him  to 
the  gaze  of  the  living — if  we  are  to  believe  that  it  was  the  soul 
of  the  prophet  and  not  some  fantastic  deceit  created  by  the 
trickery  of  Satan. 

8.  Prudentius,  too,  tells  of  Mercury :  "  It  is  said  that  he 
recalled  the  souls  of  the  dead  to  the  light  by  the  power  of 
the  wand  he  held,  and  others  he  condemned  to  death."  And 
a  little  later  he  adds :  "  The  wicked  art  can  summon  unsub- 
stantial forms  with  its  magic  murmur  and  utter  incantations 
over  sepulchral  ashes,  and  others  it  can  deprive  of  life." 

^  Verg.  Aen.  4,  487-491,  not  quoted  directly  but  taken  from  Augustine, 
De  Civitate  Dei,  21,  6. 


202  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [202 

9.  The  magi  are  they  who  are  usually  called  malefici  be- 
cause of  the  greatness  of  their  guilt.  They  throw  the  ele- 
ments into  commotion,  disorder  men's  minds,  and  without  any 
draught  of  poison  they  kill  by  the  mere  virulence  of  a  charm. 

10.  .  .  .  They  summon  demons,  and  dare  to  work  such 
juggleries  that  each  one  slays  his  enemies  by  evil  arts.  They 
use  blood  also,  and  victims,  and  often  touch  dead  bodies. 

11.  Necromancers  are  they  by  whose  incantations  the  dead 
appear  to  revive  and  prophesy  and  answer  questions.  ...  To 
summon  them  blood  is  thrown  on  a  corpse;  for  they  say 
demons  love  blood,  and  therefore  as  often  as  necromancy  is 
practiced  blood  is  mixed  with  water,  that  they  may  be  more 
easily  attracted  owing  to  the  color  of  blood. 

12.  The  hydromantii  are  so  named  from  water.  For  it  is 
hydromancy  to  summon  the  shades  of  demons  by  looking  into 
water  and  to  see  their  likenesses  or  mockeries,  and  to  be  told 
some  things  by  them,  while  the  pretence  is  made  that  it  is 
actually  the  dead  who  are  being  questioned  by  the  aid  of 
blood.i 

13.  This  sort  of  divination  is  said  to  have  been  introduced 
by  the  Persians.  Varro  says  there  are  four  kinds  of  divination, 
namely,  by  earth,  air,  water,  fire;  hence  geomancy,  hydro- 
mancy, aeromancy,  pyromancy. 

14.  Divini  ( sooth-say ers)  are  so  called  as  if  they  were  Deo 
pleni  (full  of  God)  ;  for  they  pretend  that  they  are  full  of 
divinity  and  they  guess  men's  future  by  a  deceitful  cleverness. 

There  are  two  sorts  of  [this]  divination,  skill  and  frenzy. 

16.  Arioli  (sooth-sayers)  are  so  named  because  they  utter 
their  execrable  prayers  at  the  altars  (aras)  of  idols  and  make 
funeral  offerings,  and  because  of  their  solemn  observances 
they  receive  responses  from  demons. 

23.  The  genethliaci  are  so  named  because  of  their  ob- 
servance of  natal  days.  They  lay  out  men's  nativities  accord- 
ing to  the  twelve  constellations  of  heaven,  and  by  the  course 
of  the  stars  endeavor  to  foretell  the  characters,  deeds,  and 

*  From  Augustine,  De  Civitate  Dei,  bk.  vii.  cap.  35. 


203]  THEOLOGY  203 

fortunes  of  the  new-born,  that  is,  under  what  sign  each  has 
been  born,  and  what  result  it  has  for  the  life  of  him  who  is 
born. 

25.  At  first  the  interpreters  of  the  stars  were  called  magi, 
as  is  read  of  those  who  announced  the  birth  of  Christ  in  the 
Gospel;  later  they  had  only  the  name  of  mathematici. 

26.  A  knowledge  of  this  art  was  granted  up  to  the  time  of 
the  Gospel,  that  when  Christ  was  born  no  one  after  that  should 
read  the  nativity  of  anyone  from  heaven. 

30.  To  these  belong  also  the  ligatures,  with  their  accursed 
remedies,  which  medical  science  condemns,  whether  in  charms 
or  in  signs  or  in  suspending  and  binding  articles. 

31.  In  all  these  the  demonic  art  has  arisen  from  a  pesti- 
lential association  of  men  and  bad  angels.  Whence  all  must 
be  avoided  by  Christians  and  rejected  and  condemned  with 
thorough-going  malediction. 

Chapter  10.    On  the  heathen. 

2.  The  Gentiles  are  they  who  are  without  the  law  and  have 
not  yet  believed.  Moreover  they  are  called  Gentiles  because 
they  are  in  their  con-genital  state,  that  is,  just  as  in  the  flesh 
they  have  plunged  down  into  sin,  to  wit,  serving  idols  and 
not  yet  regenerate. 

Chapter  11.    On  the  gods  of  the  heathen. 

1.  They  whom  the  pagans  assert  to  be  gods  are  known  to 
have  been  men  at  one  time,  and  in  accordance  with  the  life 
and  services  of  each  one  they  began  to  be  worshiped  among 
their  own  people  after  their  death,  as,  in  Egypt,  Isis;  in 
Crete,  Jove;  among  the  Moors,  Juba;  among  the  Latins, 
Faunus ;  among  the  Romans,  Quirinus. 

2.  .  .  .  And  in  their  praises  the  poets,  too,  have  helped, 
and  by  writing  poems  have  raised  them  up  to  the  heavens. 

3.  It  is  said  that  the  invention  of  certain  arts  has  given  rise 
to  worship,  as  medicine  for  Aesculapius,  craftsmanship  for 
Vulcan.  And  they  get  their  names  from  their  activities,  as 
Mercurius  because  he  is  in  charge  of  merchandise;  Liber 
from  liberty. 


204  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [204 

4.  There  were  also  certain  brave  men  and  founders  of  cities, 
upon  whose  death  men,  because  they  loved  them,  made  images 
of  them,  so  as  to  have  some  comfort  from  the  contemplation 
of  their  likenesses,  but  this  error,  it  is  now  plain,  so  insinuated 
itself  among  later  men  by  the  influence  of  demons,  that  the 
persons  whom  earlier  men  honored  for  the  sake  of  memory 
and  nothing  else,  were  believed  by  their  successors  to  be  gods, 
and  were  worshiped. 

5.  The  use  of  images  arose  when,  because  of  longing  for  the 
dead,  likenesses  or  representations  were  made  of  them  as  if 
they  had  been  received  into  heaven.  And  demons  substituted 
themselves  to  be  worshiped  on  earth  in  their  place,  and  per- 
suaded deceived  and  wretched  men  that  sacrifices  should  be 
made  to  them. 

12.  While  wicked  pride,  whether  of  men  or  of  demons, 
commands  and  desires  this  worship,  on  the  other  hand  pious 
humility,  whether  of  men  or  of  holy  angels,  refuses  it  when 
offered  to  them  and  shows  to  whom  it  is  due. 

15.  Demons,  they  say,  were  named  by  the  Greeks  as  if 
daiifiovaq^  that  is,  clcver  and  knowing  about  things.  For  they 
foreknow  many  things  that  are  to  come,  and  because  of  this 
they  are  wont  to  give  some  responses. 

16.  For  there  is  in  them  a  knowledge  of  things  greater 
than  is  in  human  weakness,  partly  by  the  keenness  of  their 
subtler  sense,  partly  by  the  experience  of  very  long  life,  partly 
by  God's  command  as  revealed  by  the  angels.  They  are 
strong  in  the  nature  of  their  aerial  bodies. 

17.  Before  their  transgression,  indeed,  they  had  celestial 
bodies.  But  they  fell  and  changed  to  an  aerial  quality,  and 
they  are  not  allowed  to  occupy  the  purer  stretches  of  yonder 
airy  space,  but  those  misty  parts,  and  this  serves  as  a  sort  of 
prison  for  them  until  the  time  of  judgment.  These  are  the 
apostate  angels,  and  their  chief  is  the  devil. 

18.  The  devil  (diabolus)  in  Hebrew  means  flowing  down- 
ward {deorsum  Huens),  because  he  despised  a  calm  station 
at  heaven's  height  and  fell  in  downward  ruin  by  the  weight 
of  his  pride ;  but  in  Greek  devil  means  accuser,  whether  be- 


205]  THEOLOGY  205 

cause  he  reports  the  guilty  deeds  to  which  he  is  himself  the 
tempter,  or  because  he  accuses  the  innocence  of  the  elect  with 
false  crimes.  Whence  the  angel's  voice  says  in  the  Apocalypse  : 
"  The  accuser  of  our  brethren  has  been  cast  down,  who  ac- 
cused them  in  the  sight  of  God  day  and  night." 

19.  Satanas  signifies  in  Latin  the  adversary,  or  deserter. 
He  is  the  adversary,  for  he  is  the  foe  of  truth,  and  struggles 
to  resist  the  virtues  of  the  holy;  and  the  deserter,  because  he 
became  an  apostate  and  did  not  stand  by  the  truth  in  which 
he  was  created ;  and  the  tempter,  because  he  demands  that  the 
uprightness  of  the  just  be  tried,  as  is  written  in  Job. 

20.  Antichrist  is  so  named  because  he  is  going  to  oppose 
Christ.  It  is  not  as  certain  simple-minded  persons  understand, 
that  he  is  called  Antichrist  because  he  is  going  to  come  before 
Christ,  that  is,  that  Christ  will  come  after  him;  not  so,  but 
Antichrist  in  the  Greek  means  in  the  Latin  contrarius 
Christo,  for  avrl  in  Greek  means  contra  in  Latin. 

21.  For  when  he  comes  he  will  say  falsely  that  he  is  Christ, 
and  he  will  fight  against  him,  and  will  oppose  the  sacraments 
of  Christ,  in  order  to  destroy  the  Gospel  of  truth. 

22.  For  he  will  try  to  repair  the  temple  at  Jerusalem  and 
to  restore  all  the  ceremonies  of  the  old  law;  moreover  he  is 
Antichrist  who  denies  that  Christ  is  God,  for  he  is  opposed  to 
Christ;  all  who  go  out  of  the  church  and  are  cut  off  from 
the  unity  of  faith  are  themselves  Antichrist. 

37.  They  say  that  Janus  is  the  gate  (janua),  as  it  were,  of 
the  universe,  or  the  heavens  or  the  months ;  they  make  Janus 
with  two  faces  because  of  the  East  and  the  West ;  when  they 
make  him  with  four  faces  and  call  him  the  double  Janus  they 
refer  this  to  the  four  quarters  of  the  universe  or  to  the  four 
elements  or  seasons.  But  when  they  make  this  pretence  they 
make  a  monster,  not  a  god. 

56.  They  say  that  Diana  [Apollo's]  sister  is  at  the  same 
time  Luna  and  the  divinity  of  roads.  And  they  represent  her 
as  a  maiden  because  nothing  grows  on  a  road.  And  both 
[Apollo  and  Diana]  are  falsely  represented  as  having  arrows 
because  the  sun  and  moon  send  their  rays  from  heaven  down 
to  the  earth. 


2o6  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [206 

81.  Pan  is  a  Greek  name;  the  Latin  is  Silvanus;  the  god  of 
the  country  people  whom  they  invented  to  represent  nature, 
whence  he  is  called  Pan,  that  is,  all.  For  they  pretend  that 
he  is  made  out  of  every  kind  of  element. 

82.  For  he  has  horns  to  represent  the  rays  of  the  sun  and 
moon;  he  has  a  skin,  marked  by  spots,  because  of  the  stars 
of  heaven;  his  face  is  red  to  represent  the  ether;  he  carries 
a  Pan's-pipe  of  seven  reeds  because  of  the  harmony  of  the 
heavens  in  which  are  seven  sounds,  and  the  seven  notes  of  the 
voice. 

89.  These  ^  and  others  are  the  fabulous  imaginations  of  the 
heathen,  and,  being  rightly  understood,  they  are  such  that 
their  worship,  though  in  ignorance,  brings  damnation. 

100.  They  say  manes  are  the  gods  of  the  dead,  whose 
power,  they  assert,  is  between  the  moon  and  the  earth.  .  .  . 

loi.  Larvae  they  say  are  demons  made  from  men  who  have 
been  wicked.  It  is  said  to  be  their  nature  to  terrify  little  ones 
and  to  gibber  in  dark  corners. 

*  The  reference  is  to  heathen  gods. 


BOOK  IX 

ON  LANGUAGES,  RACES,  EMPIRES,  WARFARE, 
CITIZENS,  RELATIONSHIPS 

INTRODUCTION 

In  Spite  of  the  apparent  lack  of  unity  indicated  by  the 
title,  the  subject  of  Book  IX  may  be  fairly  described  as 
mankind.  It  is  true  that  language  is  the  first  topic,  but  it 
is  brought  in  merely  because  Isidore  believed  that  differ- 
ences of  race  were  based  on  differences  of  language.  It  i? 
followed  by  a  survey  of  the  races  of  mankind,  ending  with 
an  account  of  the  races  that  had  won  military  prominence. 
Isidore  then  turns  to  man  within  the  state  and  treats  of  him 
first  as  a  soldier  and  then  as  a  citizen.  Finally  man  is 
taken  up  as  a  member  of  the  family,  and  an  account  of 
family  relationship  and  of  marriage  is  given. ^ 

Isidore  gives  a  table  of  "  the  prohibited  degrees "  within  which 
marriage  was  forbidden  by  the  rule  of  the  church.  Since  the  intro- 
duction of  Christianity  these  had  been  steadily  extended  until  in  Isi- 
dore's lifetime  intermarriage  within  the  seventh  degree  was  prohibited 
by  Pope  Gregory.  The  analogy  between  the  wide  extension  of  "  the 
prohibited  degrees  "  in  the  dark  ages  and  that  found  among  primitive 
peoples  generally  is  remarkable.  Westermarck,  History  of  Human 
Marriage,  p.  297,  says :  "As  a  rule  among  primitive  peoples  unaffected 
by  modern  civilization,  the  prohibited  degrees  are  more  numerous  than 
in  advanced  communities,  the  prohibitions  in  many  cases  referring  even 
to  all  the  members  of  a  tribe  or  clan."  For  an  account  of  this  de- 
velopment of  marriage,  see  Westermarck,  op.  cit.,  p.  308,  and  Smith 
and  Cheetham's  Christian  Antiquities,  art.  "  Prohibited  Degrees."  This 
social  phenomenon  of  the  dark  ages  is  a  development  parallel  to  the 
recrudescence  of  the  primitive  in  the  intellectual  sphere  which  is  illus- 
trated in  so  marked  a  nianner  in  the  Etymologies  (cf.  pp.  50-54)- 
207]  207 


208  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [208 

ANALYSIS 

I.  Languages  (ch.  i). 
11.  Mankind  (ch.  2). 

1.  Mankind   the   descendants   of   the   sons   of    Noah 

(Sees.  2-37). 

2.  General  view  of  the  peoples  of  the  earth  with  their 

Hebrew  origin  where  known  (Sees.  37-135). 

III.  Empires,  rulers,  and  warfare  (ch.  3). 

IV.  Terms  relating  to  civil  life  (ch.  4). 
V.  The  family  (chs.  5-7). 

1.  The  direct  line  (ch.  5). 

2.  Relatives   and   degrees   of    relationship,    with    the 

"  prohibited  degrees  "  (ch.  6). 

3.  Marriage  (ch.  7). 

EXTRACTS 

Chapter  i.    On  the  languages  of  the  nations. 

I.  The  diversity  of  languages  arose  after  the  flood,  at  the 
building  of  the  tower;  for  before  that  proud  undertaking  di- 
vided human  society  among  different  languages  {in  diver sos 
signorum  sonos)  there  was  one  tongue  for  all  peoples,  which 
is  called  Hebrew.  This  the  patriarchs  and  prophets  used,  not 
only  in  their  conversation,  but  in  the  sacred  writings  as  well. 
At  first  there  were  as  many  languages  as  peoples,  then  more 
peoples  than  languages,  because  many  peoples  sprang  from 
one  language. 

3.  There  are  three  sacred  languages,  Hebrew,  Greek,  and 
Latin,  and  they  are  supreme  through  all  the  world.  For  it 
was  in  these  three  languages  that  the  charge  against  the  Lord 
was  written  above  the  cross  by  Pilate.  Wherefore,  because 
of  the  obscurity  of  the  holy  Scriptures,  a  knowledge  of  these 
three  languages  is  necessary,  in  order  that  there  may  be  re- 
course to  a  second  if  the  expression  in  one  of  them  leads  to 
doubt  of  a  word  or  its  meaning. 

4.  But  the  Greek  tongue  is  considered  most  famous  among 


209]  ^^  LANGUAGES,  RACES,  EMPIRES  209 

the  tongues  of  the  nations.  For  it  is  more  resonant  than  the 
Latin  and  all  other  tongues,  and  its  variety  is  discerned  in  its 
five  divisions :  of  which  the  first  is  called  ko^v^,  that  is,  debased 
or  common,  which  all  use. 

5.  The  second  is  Attic,  that  is,  the  Athenian  speech  which 
all  the  writers  of  Greece  used.  The  third  is  Doric,  which  the 
Egyptians  have  and  the  Sicilians.  The  fourth  is  Ionic.  The 
fifth,  Aeolic,  which  the  Aeoles  spoke.  In  observing  the  Greek 
tongue  there  are  definite  distinctions  of  this  sort;  for  their 
language  is  divided  in  this  way. 

6.  Certain  have  asserted  that  there  are  four  Latin  lan- 
guages, namely,  the  early,  the  Latin,  the  Roman,  the  cor- 
rupted. The  early  is  that  which  the  oldest  Italians  used  in 
the  time  of  Janus  and  Saturn,  a  rude  speech,  as  is  shown  in 
the  songs  of  the  Salii ;  the  Latin,  which  they  spoke  in  Latium 
under  Latinus  and  the  kings  of  Tuscia,  in  which  the  twelve 
tables  were  written. 

7.  The  Roman,  which  began  to  be  spoken  by  the  Roman 
people  after  the  kings  were  driven  out,  which  was  used  by 
the  poets  Naevius,  Plautus,  Ennius,  Virgilius,  the  orators 
Gracchus,  Cato,  Cicero,  and  the  rest.  The  corrupted  Latin, 
which,  after  the  empire  was  extended  more  widely,  burst  into 
the  Roman  state  along  with  customs  and  men,  corrupting  the 
soundness  of  speech  by  solecisms  and  barbarisms. 

10.  Every  language,  Greek,  Latin,  or  of  other  nations,  any 
man  can  grasp  by  hearing  it,  or  can  get  from  a  teacher  by 
reading.  Though  a  knowledge  of  all  languages  is  difficult  for 
anyone,  still  no  one  is  so  sluggish  that,  situated  as  he  is  in  his 
own  nation,  he  should  not  know  his  own  nation's  language. 
For  what  else  is  he  to  be  thought  except  lower  than  the  brute 
animals?  For  they  make  the  sound  that  is  proper  to  them, 
but  he  is  worse  who  lacks  a  knowledge  of  his  own  language. 

11.  What  sort  of  language  God  spoke  at  the  beginning  of 
the  world  when  he  said  "  Let  there  be  light ",  it  is  difficult  to 
discover.  For  there  were  no  languages  yet.  Likewise  [it  is 
hard  to  learn]  in  what  tongue  he  spoke  later  to  man's  external 
ear,   especially  when  he   spoke  to  the  first  man  or  to  the 


2IO  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [2IO 

prophets,  or  when  God's  voice  sounded  corporally  ^  as  when 
he  said,  "  Thou  art  my  beloved  son '',  where  it  is  believed 
by  certain  authorities  that  he  used  that  one  and  single  lan- 
guage that  existed  before  there  was  a  diversity  of  language. 
However  among  the  different  nations  it  is  believed  that  God 
speaks  to  them  in  that  same  tongue  which  they  themselves 
use,  so  as  to  be  understood  by  them. 

12.  God  speaks  to  men,  not  through  the  agency  of  invisible 
substance,  but  by  an  embodied  being,  in  which  form  he  has 
willed  to  appear  to  men  when  he  has  spoken.  The  Apostle 
says  also :  "If  I  speak  with  the  tongues  of  men  and  of 
angels ",  where  the  question  arises  in  what  tongue  angels 
speak.  Not  that  angels  have  languages,  but  this  is  said  figur- 
atively. ^ 

13.  Likewise  it  is  asked  what  tongue  men  will  speak  in 
future.     The  answer  is  nowhere  found.  .  .  . 

14.  And  we  have  written  first  about  tongues  and  later  about 
nations  for  the  reason  that  nations  have  arisen  from  tongues, 
not  tongues  from  nations. 

Chapter  2.    On  names  of  Nations. 

2.  The  nations  among  whom  the  earth  is  divided  are  sev- 
enty-three. Fifteen  from  Japhet,  thirty-pne  from  Cham, 
twenty-seven  from  Sem,  which  make  seventy-three,  or  rather, 
as  calculation  shows,  seventy-two,  and  as  many  languages 
began  to  exist  throughout  the  lands,  and  increasing  they  filled 
the  provinces  and  islands. 

25.  .  .  .  These  ^  are  the  nations  of  the  stock  of  Cham,  who 
stock  of  Sem,  possessing  the  southern  land  from  the  sunrise 
all  the  way  to  the  Phoenicians. 

25.  .  .  .  These  ^  are  the  nations  of  the  stock  of  Cham,  who 
hold  all  the  southern  part  from  Sidon  all  the  way  to  the 
Strait  of  Cadiz. 

37.  These     are  the  nations  of  the  stock  of  Japhet,  which 

*  Corporaliter. 

'  The  names  of  the  nations  are  enumerated  in  the  preceding  sections. 


21 1]  ON  LANGUAGES,  RACES,  EMPIRES  21 1 

possessed  the  half  of  Asia  and  all  Europe  as  far  as  the  British 
Ocean,  leaving  names  to  both  places  and  peoples  from  Mt. 
Taurus  to  Aquilo,  of  which  at  a  later  time  a  great  many  were 
changed,  but  the  rest  remain  as  they  were. 

38.  For  the  names  of  many  peoples  have  remained  in  part, 
so  that  it  is  evident  to-day  whence  they  were  derived,  as  the 
Assyrians  from  Assur,  the  Hebrews  from  Heber,  but  they 
have  changed  in  part,  through  length  of  time,  so  that  the 
most  learned  men  scanning  the  oldest  histories  have  with  dif- 
ficulty been  able  to  find  the  origins,  not  of  all,  but  of  some  of 
them. 

39.  .  .  .  And  if  all  things  should  be  considered,  it  is  evident 
that  a  greater  number  of  peoples  have  changed  their  names 
than  have  kept  them,  and  different  reasons  have  imposed  dif- 
ferent names  on  them.  For  the  Indi  were  so-called  from  the 
river  Indus  which  bounds  them  on  the  west. 

40.  The  Seres  ^  obtained  a  name  from  their  own  town,  a 
people  lying  toward  the  East,  among  whom  wool  taken  from 
trees  is  woven. 

89.  The  Goths  are  believed  to  have  been  named  from 
Magog,  son  of  Japhet,  from  the  likeness  of  the  last  syllable. 
These  the  ancients  called  Getae,  rather  than  Goths,  a  race 
brave  and  very  powerful,  of  lofty  massive  stature,  fear-in- 
spiring in  the  matter  of  arms.  .  .  . 

96.  The  Vindilicus  is  a  river  bursting  forth  in  the  extremity 
of  Gaul,  near  which  stream  the  Vandals  are  said  to  have 
dwelt,  and  to  have  derived  their  name  from  it. 

97.  The  nations  of  Germany  are  so-called  because  their 
bodies  are  of  monstrous  size,  and  their  tribes  are  terrible, 
being  inured  to  the  fiercest  cold,  and  they  have  derived  their 
characteristics  from  the  rigor  of  the  climate,  of  fierce  spirit 
and  always  unconquerable,  living  on  plunder  and  hunting.  Of 
these  there  are  very  many  tribes,  varying  in  their  armor  and 
in  the  color  of  their  dress  and  with  different  languages,  and 

^  The  name  China  appeared  for  the  first  time  in  the  Christian  Topo- 
graphy of  Cosmas  Indicopleustes.  It  does  not  appear  in  the  Etymol- 
ogies. 


212  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [212 

the  derivation  of  their  names  is  doubtful.  .  .  .  The  frightful- 
ness  of  their  barbarism  contributes  a  certain  fearfulness  of 
sound  to  their  very  names. 

100.  The  tribe  of  Saxons,  dwelling  on  the  shores  of  the 
Ocean  and  among  pathless  marshes,  brave  and  active.  And 
from  this  they  get  their  name,  because  they  are  a  hardy  and 
very  strong  race  of  men,  and  one  that  surpasses  other  tribes 
in  piracy. 

10 1.  It  is  believed  that  the  Francs  were  so-called  from  a 
certain  leader.  Others  think  that  their  name  comes  from  the 
savagery  of  their  character.  For  their  customs  are  uncouth, 
and  they  have  a  natural  fierceness  of  spirit. 

102.  Certain  suspect  that  the  Britons  were  so-called  accord- 
ing to  the  Latin  because  they  are  stupid  (bruti),  a  people 
situated  in  the  midst  of  the  Ocean,  separated  by  the  sea,  as 
it  were,  beyond  the  circle  of  lands. 

105.  In  accordance  with  diversity  of  climate,  the  appear- 
ance of  men  and  their  color  and  bodily  size  vary  and  diversi- 
ties of  mind  appear.  Thence  we  see  that  the  Romans  are  dig- 
nified, the  Greeks  unstable,  the  Africans  crafty,  the  Gauls 
fierce  by  nature  and  somewhat  headlong  in  their  disposition, 
which  the  character  of  the  climates  brings  about. 

132.  The  Anthropophagi,  a  very  fierce  people,  situated  in 
the  direction  of  the  Seres.  And  they  are  named  Anthro- 
pophagi because  they  eat  human  flesh.  And  just  as  in  the 
case  of  these,  so  in  the  case  of  other  peoples  throughout  the 
ages,  names  have  been  changed  either  because  of  kings,  or 
countries,  or  customs,  or  some  other  causes,  so  that  the  first 
origin  of  their  name  is  not  evident,  owing  to  distance  of  time. 

133.  Moreover  those  who  are  called  Antipodes,  because 
they  are  believed  to  be  opposite  to  our  feet,  so  that,  being  as 
it  were  placed  beneath  the  earth,  they  tread  in  footsteps  that 
are  opposed  to  our  feet.  It  is  by  no  means  to  be  believed, 
because  neither  the  solid  texture  nor  the  center  of  the  earth 
admits  it.  Besides,  this  is  not  established  by  any  historical 
evidence,  but  the  poets  arrive  at  this  conclusion  by  a  sort  of 
reasoning. 


213]  ^^  LANGUAGES,  RACES,  EMPIRES  213 

Chapter  3.    On  kingdoms  and  terms  used  in  warfare. 

2.  Whole  nations  have  enjoyed  sovereignty  each  in  its  own 
turn,  as  the  Assyrians,  Medes,  Persians,  Egyptians,  Greeks, 
whose  turns  the  lot  of  time  so  rolled  around  that  one  was  de- 
stroyed by  another.  Amid  all  the  kingdoms  of  the  earth, 
however,  two  are  said  to  be  more  glorious  than  the  rest ;  that 
of  the  Assyrians  first,  then  that  of  the  Romans,  being  separ- 
ated and  distinguished  from  one  another  both  in  time  and 
place. 

3.  For  as  the  former  was  earlier  and  the  latter  later,  so  the 
former  arose  in  the  East  and  the  latter  in  the  West;  finally 
at  the  destruction  of  the  former  the  beginning  of  the  latter 
immediately  appeared.  All  other  kingdoms  and  all  other 
kings  are  regarded  as  appendages  of  these. 


BOOK  X 
ALPHABETICAL  LIST  OF  WORDS  ^ 

EXTRACTS 

I.  Though  the  derivation  of  words  by  the  philosophers  in- 
volves this  belief,  that  homo  comes  from  humanitas,  sapiens 
from  sapientia,  because  sapientia  exists  before  sapiens,  still 
another  special  cause  is  evident  in  the  derivation  of  certain 
names,  as  homo  from  humus,  whence  in  a  true  sense  homo 
is  so  called.  And  we  have  set  down  certain  of  these  deriva- 
tions in  this  work  for  the  sake  of  example. 

44.  Compilator,  one  who  mixes  the  words  of  other  men 
with  his  own  as  painters  are  wont  to  mix  and  pound  different 
things  in  a  mortar.  Of  this  crime  the  famous  poet  of  Mantua 
was  once  accused  when  he  had  translated  certain  verses  of 
Homer  and  mingled  them  with  his  own,  and  when  he  was 
called  by  his  rivals  a  plunderer  of  the  ancients  he  replie^d: 
"  Magnarum  esse  virium  clavam  Herculi  extorquere  de 
manu  ". 

194.  Nepos,^  so  called  from  a  certain  kind  of  scorpion  that 
eats  its  own  young,  excepting  one  which  has  a  seat  upon  its  back; 
this  one,  being  saved,  eats  its  father.  Whence  men  who  eat 
up  in  luxury  the  goods  of  their  parents  are  called  Nepotes. 

235.  Rationator,  so-called,  a  great  man  because  he  can  give 
a  reason  for  all  the  things  which  are  allowed  to  be  wonderful. 

^  This  is  the  only  part  of  the  Etymologies  in  which  Isidore  gives  up 
every  principle  of  organization  of  his  subject-matter  except  the  alpha- 
betical one.  Elsewhere  the  terms  are  grouped  according  to  their  mean- 
ing, with  sometimes  traces  of  alphabetical  order  in  the  groups,  but 
here  the  dictionary  method  alone  is  used, 

'  Grandson,  sometimes  has  meaning  of  prodigal,  spendthrift. 
214  [214 


BOOK  XI  ' 
ON  MAN  AND  MONSTERS 

ANALYSIS 

I.  Man  and  his  parts  (ch.  i). 

A  description  of  the  human  body. 
II.  The  six  ages  of  man  (ch.  2). 
III.  Monsters. 

1.  Monstrous  births  (ch.  3,  i-ii). 

2.  Monstrous  races  (ch.  3,  12-27). 

3.  The  imaginary  monsters  of  pagan  mythology  (ch. 

3»  28-39). 

4.  Transformations  (ch.  4). 

EXTRACTS 

Chapter  i.    On  man  and  his  parts. 

4.  Homo  is  so  named  because  he  is  made  of  humus  (earth), 
as  it  is  told  in  Genesis :  "  Et  creavit  Deus  hominem  de  humo 
terrae."  And  the  whole  man  made  up  of  both  substances,  that 

^  In  the  first  part  of  book  xi  are  contained  the  remnants  of  the  sciences 
of  human  anatomy  and  physiology  as  the  ancients  had  known  them. 
The  second  part  is.  devoted  to  unnatural  births,  which  were  regarded 
as  having  a  prophetic  meaning,  and  to  monstrous  races.  It  is  not 
known  what  were  Isidore's  immediate  sources  for  bk.  xi.  Most  of  the 
natural  science  of  the  later  Roman  empire,  however,  was  drawn  ulti- 
mately from  Pliny.  To  correspond  to  Isidore's  topics  in  this  book  of 
the  Etymologies,  comparative  anatomy  and  physiology  are  found  in 
Pliny's  Natural  History,  bk.  xi,  ch.  44  et  seq.,  and  chapters  on  mon- 
strous races  (Gentium  mirabiles,  figurae)  and  on  unusual  and  unnat- 
ural births  {prodigiosi,  monstruosi  partus)  are  found  in  bk.  vii. 
215  2iq 


2l6  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [216 

is,  of  the  union  of  soul  and  body,  is  termed  homo  by  an  abuse 
of  the  word. 

6.  Man  is  two-fold,  the  inner  and  the  outer.  The  inner  man 
is  the  soul  (anima)  ;  the  outer  man,  the  body. 

7.  Anima  received  its  name  from  the  heathen,  for  the 
reason  that  it  is  wind  (ventus).  Wind  is  called  in  the  Greek 
Avf//of;  and  we  seem  to  live  by  drawing  air  into  the  mouth. 
But  this  is  most  clearly  false,  because  anima  comes  into  being 
long  before  air  can  be  received  into  the  mouth,  because  it  is 
already  alive  in  the  womb  of  the  mother. 

8.  Anima  therefore  is  not  air,  as  certain  have  thought  who 
have  not  been  able  to  form  a  conception  of  an  incorporeal 
nature. 

9.  The  evangelist  asserts  that  spiritus  is  the  same  thing  as 
anima,  saying :  "  Potestatem  habeo  ponendi  animam  meam  et 
rursus  potestatem  habeo  sumendi  eam."  And  in  regard  to 
the  anima  of  the  Lord  at  the  time  of  the  passion,  the  same 
evangelist  thus  spoke,  saying :  "  et  inclinato  capite  emisit 
spiritum." 

10.  For  what  is  it  to  send  forth  the  spiritus,  if  not  to  lay 
down  the  anima.  But  the  anima  is  so  called  because  it  lives, 
and  the  spiritus  because  of  its  spiritual  nature,  or  because  it 
breathes  (inspiret)  in  the  body. 

11.  Likewise  animus  is  the  same  as  anima.  But  anima  is 
of  life,  animus  of  wisdom.  Whence  the  philosophers  say  that 
even  without  animus  the  life  remains,  and  without  the  mind, 
anima  endures.  ... 

12.  ...  It  is  not  anima,  but  what  excels  in  anima  that  is 
called  mens,  its  head  or  eye,  as  it  were.  Whence  man  himself 
is  called  the  image  of  God  in  respect  to  mens.  However  all 
those  things  are  united  to  anima  so  that  it  is  one  thing.  The 
anima  has  received  different  names  according  to  the  working 
of  different  causes. 

13.  .  .  .  When  it  gives  life  to  the  body,  it  is  anima;  when  it 
wills,^  it  is  animus;  when  it  knows,  it  is  mens;  when  it  recol- 

» Vult. 


217]  ^^  ^^^  "^^^  MONSTERS  217 

lects,  it  is  memoria;  when  it  judges  what  is  right,  it  is  ratio; 
when  it  breathes,  it  is  spiritus;  when  it  is  conscious  of  any- 
thing, it  is  sensus.  .  .  . 

14.  Corpus  is  so  called  because  being  corrupted,  it  perishes. 
For  it  is  perishable  and  mortal  and  must  sometime  be  dis- 
solved. 

16.  The  body  is  made  up  of  the  four  elements.  For  earth 
is  in  the  flesh;  air  in  the  breath;  moisture  in  the  blood;  fire 
in  the  vital  heat.  For  the  elements  have  each  their  own  part 
in  us,  and  something  is  due  them  when  the  structure  is  broken 
up.  .  .  . 

18.  The  bodily  senses  are  five:  sight,  hearing,  smell,  taste, 
touch.    Two  of  these  open  and  close ;  two  are  always  open. 

56.  The  arteries  are  so  named  because  the  air,  that  is,  the 
breath,  is  carried  by  them  from  the  lungs;  or  because  they 
retain  the  breath  of  life  in  their  narrow  and  close  passages, 
whence  they  emit  the  sounds  of  the  voice,  which  would  all 
sound  alike  if  the  movement  of  the  tongue  did  not  create  dif- 
ferences of  the  voice. 

yy.  Lac  (milk)  derives  its  name  from  its  color,  because 
it  is  a  white  liquor,  for  the  Greeks  call  white  Xemog  and  its 
nature  is  changed  from  blood;  for  after  the  birth  whatever 
blood  has  not  yet  been  spent  in  the  nourishing  of  the  womb 
flows  by  a  natural  passage  to  the  breasts,  and  whitening  by 
their  virtue,  receives  the  quality  of  milk. 

86.  Ossa  (bones)  are  the  solid  parts  of  the  body.  For  on 
these  all  form  and  strength  depend.  Ossa  are  named  from 
ustus  (burned),  because  they  were  burned  by  the  ancients,  or 
as  others  think,  from  os  (the  mouth),  because  there  they  are 
visible,  for  everywhere  else  they  are  covered  and  concealed 
by  the  skin  and  flesh. 

92.  Terga,  because  it  is  on  the  back  that  we  lie  flat  on  the 
earth  {terra)  ;  men  alone  can  do  this,  for  dumb  animals  lie 
either  on  the  belly  or  on  the  side;  whence  the  word  tergum 
is  applied  to  them  mistakenly. 

108.  The  knees  are  the  meeting-points  of  the  thighs  and 
lower  legs ;  and  they  are  called  knees  (genua)  because  in  the 


2l8  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [218 

womb  they  they  are  opposite  to  the  cheeks  (genae).  For  they 
adhere  to  them  there  and  they  are  akin  to  the  eyes,  the  re- 
vealers  of  tears  and  of  pity.  For  the  knees  (genua)  are  so 
called  from  the  cheeks  (genae). 

109.  In  short  they  assert  that  man  in  his  beginning  and  first 
formation  is  so  folded  up  that  the  knees  are  above,  and  by 
these  the  eyes  are  shaped  so  that  there  are  deep  hollows.  En- 
nius  says :  "  Atque  genua  comprimit  artagena."  Thence  it  is 
that  when  men  fall  on  their  knees  they  at  once  begin  to  weep. 
For  nature  has  willed  that  they  remember  their  mother's 
womb  where  they  sat  in  darkness,  as  it  were,  until  they  should 
come  to  the  light. 

118.  Cor  is  derived  from  a  Greek  term — what  they  call 
Kapiia  (heart) — or,  it  may  be,  from  cura  (cure).  For  in  it 
dwell  all  anxious  thought  and  wisdom.  And  it  is  near  the 
lungs  for  this  reason,  that  when  it  is  fired  by  anger  it  may  be 
cooled  by  the  liquid  of  the  lungs.  It  has  two  arteries,  of  which 
the  left  has  more  blood,  the  right,  more  air.  From  it  also  is 
the  pulse  we  find  in  the  right  arm. 

120.  The  pulsus  (pulse)  is  so  called  because  it  beats  (pal- 
pitet),  and  by  its  evidence  we  perceive  that  there  is  sickness 
or  health.  Its  motion  is  two-fold;  a  simple  motion  which  is 
made  up  of  a  single  beat,  and  a  composite,  made  up  of  sev- 
eral movements — irregular  and  unequal.  And  these  move- 
ments have  definite  limits.  .  .  . 

121.  The  veins  are  so  called  because  they  are  the  passages 
of  the  flowing  blood,  and  its  streamlets  spread  through  all  the 
body,  by  which  all  the  parts  are  moistened. 

124.  The  Greeks  call  the  lungs  irXevfjuv ,  because  they  are  the 
bellows  of  the  heart  and  in  them  is  nvevfia^  that  is,  spiritus,  by 
which  they  are  stirred  and  moved,  whence  they  are  called 
pulmones.  .  .  . 

125.  Jecur  (liver)  has  its  name  because  in  it  fire  (ignis) 
has  its  seat,  and  from  there  it  flies  up  into  the  head.  Thence 
it  spreads  to  the  eyes  and  the  other  organs  of  sense  and  the 
limbs,  and  by  its  heat  it  changes  into  blood  the  liquid  that  it 
has  appropriated  from  food,  and  this  blood  it  furnishes  to 


219]  ON  MAN  AND  MONSTERS  219 

the  several  parts  to  feed  and  nourish  them.  In  the  liver  pleas- 
ure resides  and  desire,  according  to  those  who  dispute  about 
natural  philosophy. 

127.  The  spleen  is  so  called  from  corresponding  to  {supple- 
mentum)  the  liver  on  the  opposite  side  in  order  that  there 
may  be  no  vacuum,  and  this  certain  men  believe  was  formed 
with  a  view  to  laughter.  For  it  is  by  the  spleen  we  laugh,  by 
the  bile  we  are  angry,  by  the  heart  we  are  wise,  by  the  liver 
we  love.  And  while  these  four  elements  remain,  the  animal 
is  whole. 

Chapter  3.    On  human  monstrosities. 

1.  Portents,  Varro  says,  are  those  births  which  seem  to 
have  taken  place  contrary  to  nature.  But  they  are  not  con- 
trary to  nature,  because  they  come  by  the  divine  will,  since 
the  will  of  the  creator  is  the  nature  of  each  thing  that  is 
created.  Whence,  too,  the  heathen  themselves  call  God  now 
nature,  now  God. 

2.  A  portent,  therefore,  happens  not  contrary  to  nature,  but 
contrary  to  known  nature.  .  .  . 

4.  Certain  creations  of  portents  seem  to  have  been  made 
with  future  meanings.  For  God  sometimes  wishes  to  indi- 
cate what  is  to  come  by  disgusting  features  at  birth,  as  also 
by  dreams  and  oracles,  that  he  may  give  forewarning  by  these, 
and  indicate  to  certain  nations  or  certain  men  coming  de- 
struction.   This  has  been  proved  by  many  trials. 

5.  .  .  .  But  these  portents  which  are  sent  in  warning,  do 
not  live  long,  but  die  as  soon  as  they  are  born. 

12.  And  just  as  there  are  monstrous  individuals  in  separate 
races  of  men,  so  in  the  whole  human  kind  there  are  certain 
monstrous  races,  as  the  Gigantes,  Cynocephali,  Cyclopes,  and 
the  rest. 

15.  The  Cynocephali  are  so  called  because  they  have  dogs' 
heads  and  their  very  barking  betrays  them  as  beasts  rather 
than  men.    These  are  born  in  India. 

16.  The  Cyclopes,  too,  the  same  India  gives  birth  to,  and 
they  are  named  Cyclopes  because  they  are  said  to  have  a  single 


220  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [220 

eye  in  the  midst  of  the  forehead.  These  have  the  additional 
name  dypio<j>ayiTat  because  they  eat  nothing  but  the  flesh  of  wild 
beasts. 

17.  The  Blemmyes,  born  in  Libya,  are  believed  to  be  head- 
less trunks,  having  mouth  and  eyes  in  the  breast;  others  are 
born  without  necks,  with  eyes  in  their  shoulders. 

18.  In  the  remote  east,  races  with  faces  of  a  monstrous  sort 
are  described.  Some  without  noses,  with  formless  counten- 
ances; others  with  lower  lip  so  protruding  that  by  it  they 
shelter  the  whole  face  from  the  heat  of  the  sun  while  they 
sleep;  others  have  small  mouths,  and  take  sustenance  through 
a  narrow  opening  by  means  of  oat-straws;  a  good  many  are 
said  to  be  tongueless,  using  nod  or  gesture  in  place  of  words. 

19.  They  say  the  Panotii  in  Scythia  have  ears  of  so  large 
a  size  that  they  cover  the  whole  body  with  them.  For  rrav 
in  Greek  means  all,  and  o)Ta^  ears. 

21.  The  Satyrs  are  manikins  with  upturned  noses;  they 
have  horns  on  their  foreheads,  and  are  goat-footed,  such  as 
the  one  St.  Anthony  saw  in  the  desert.  And  he,  being  ques- 
tioned, is  said  to  have  answered  the  servant  of  God,  saying, 
"  I  am  mortal,  one  of  the  inhabitants  of  the  waste,  whom  the 
heathen,  misled  by  error,  worship  as  the  Fauns  and  Satyrs." 

23.  The  race  of  the  Sciopodes  is  said  to  live  in  Ethiopia. 
They  have  one  leg  apiece,  and  are  of  a  marvelous  swiftness, 
and  the  Greeks  call  them  Sciopodes  from  this,  that  in  sum- 
mertime they  lie  on  the  ground  on  their  backs  and  are  shaded 
by  the  greatness  of  their  feet. 

24.  The  Antipodes  in  Libya  have  feet  turned  backward  and 
eight  toes  on  each  foot. 

28.  Other  fabulous  monstrosities  of  the  human  race  are 
said  to  exist,  but  they  do  not ;  they  are  imaginary.  And  their 
meaning  is  found  in  the  causes  of  things,  as  Geryon,  King  of 
Spain,  who  is  said  to  have  had  a  triple  form.  For  there  were 
three  brothers  of  such  harmonious  spirit  that  it  was,  as  it 
were,  one  soul  in  three  bodies. 


22 1  ]  ON  MAN  AND  MONSTERS  221 

Chapter  4.     On  transformations  to  beasts. 

2.  Moreover  they  affirm  with  no  fabulous  lying  but  with 
historic  proof,  that  Diomedes'  companions  were  changed  to 
birds.  And  certain  say  that  witches  are  created  from  human 
beings.  For  the  shapes  of  the  wicked  change  for  their  many 
villanies,  and  they  turn  bodily  into  beasts,  whether  by  magic 
charms  or  by  the  use  of  herbs. 

3.  Many  creatures  go  through  a  natural  change  and  by 
decay  pass  into  diflferent  forms,  as  bees  [are  formed]  by  the 
decaying  flesh  of  calves,  as  beetles  from  horses,  locusts  from 
mules,  scorpions  from  crabs. 


BOOK  XII 
ON  ANIMALS 

INTRODUCTION 

The  history  of  zoological  knowledge  during  the  ten  cen- 
turies from  Aristotle  to  Isidore  may  be  indicated  with  suf- 
ficient clearness  by  enumerating  three  of  the  works  that  sur- 
vive. They  are  Aristotle's  ''  History  of  Animals  ",  the 
zoological  part  (Books  VIII-XI)  of  Pliny's  "  Natural  His- 
tory ",  and  Isidore's  "  On  Animals  ".  On  the  first,  belong- 
ing to  the  fourth  century  B.  C,  Cuvier  has  pronounced 
judgment  as  "  one  of  the  greatest  monuments  that  the 
genius  of  man  has  raised  to  the  natural  sciences  "/  Pliny, 
four  centuries  later,  is  commended  by  Cuvier  for  his  in- 
dustry and  learning,  but  reproached  for  his  predilection 
for  the  fabulous,  and  his  absolute  lack  of  scientific  order 
and  of  the  scientific  spirit^  Six  centuries  later  a  resume 
of  zoological  knowledge  is  given  in  the  Etymologies,  which 
is  of  no  value  except  for  the  information  it  gives  of  the 
benighted  character  of  the  medieval  intellect. 

Isidore's  zoology  is  shown  in  a  better  light,  however, 
when  it  is  compared  with  that  of  the  Physiologus,^  his 

*  Cuvier,  Histoire  des  Sciences,  Naturelles,  vol.  i,  p.  i66. 

*  Cuvier,  vol.  i,  p.  264. 

*  The  Physiologus  probably  originated  at  Alexandria  in  the  first  cen- 
tury A.  D.,  and  was  translated  into  the  Latin  about  the  end  of  the 
fourth  century.  It  was  very  popular  with  the  church  fathers.  Isidore's 
De  Animalibus  exhibits  its  influence  in  many  passages.  See  Lauchert, 
Physiologus  (Strassburg,  1891),  p.  103.    A  Greek  version  of  the  Physi- 

222  [222 


223J  ON  ANIMALS  223 

great  rival  in  this  field  throughout  the  Middle  Ages.  This 
is  a  collection  of  fabulous  accounts  of  animals,  with  the 
moral  and  spiritual  lessons  that  were  drawn  from  them. 
In  it  the  ancient  science  is  seen  in  its  most  de-secularized 
form;  nature  knowledge  is  made  absolutely  subservient 
to  religious  teaching,  and  in  the  process  actual  knowledge 
is  driven  out  and  fable  takes  its  place.  It  must  be  reck- 
oned to  Isidore's  credit  that  he  resisted  the  temptation  to 
give  ''  the  higher  meaning  ". 

ANALYSIS 

I.  Flocks  and  herds  and  beasts  of  burden  (ch.  i). 
IL  Wild  beasts  (ch.  2). 

III.  Small  creatures  (ch.  3). 

IV.  Serpents  (ch.  4). 
V.  Worms  (ch.  5). 

VI.  Fishes  (ch.  6). 
VII.  Birds  (ch.  7). 
VIII.  Small  flying  creatures  (ch.  8). 

EXTRACTS 

Chapter  i.    On  flocks  and  work  animals. 

1.  Adam  first  named  all  living  creatures,  assigning  a  name 
to  each  in  accordance  with  its  purpose  at  that  time,  in  view 
of  the  nature  it  was  to  be  subject  to. 

2.  But  the  nations  have  named  all  animals  in  their  own 
languages.  But  Adam  did  not  give  those  names  in  the  lan- 
guage of  the  Greeks  or  Romans  or  any  barbaric  people,  but 
in  that  one  of  all  languages  which  existed  before  the  flood, 
and  is  called  Hebrew. 

9.  A  sheep  is  a  domesticated  animal  with  soft  wool,  harm- 
less and  calm  in  disposition. 

ologus   is    given   by    Lauchert   and    a    Latin    by    Cahier    in   Melanges 
d'Archeologie,  Paris,  vols,  ii,  iii,  iv   (1851-53). 


224  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [224 

10.  The  wether  {vervex)  is  so  called  from  its  strength 
{vires)  ...  or  because  it  has  a  worm  (vermen)  in  its  head, 
and,  excited  by  the  itch  of  these  worms,  they  butt  one  another 
and  fight  and  smite  one  another  with  great  fury. 

17.  And  so  these  animals  (Ibices),  as  we  have  said,  remain 
among  the  loftiest  rocks,  and  if  ever  they  perceive  the  hostile 
presence  of  wild  beast  or  of  man  they  throw  themselves  down 
from  the  highest  summits,  and  land  unharmed  on  their  horns. 

18.  [Deer]  are  foes  of  snakes,  and  when  they  feel  that  they 
are  weighed  down  with  weakness  they  draw  snakes  out  from 
their  holes  by  the  breath  of  their  nostrils  and  overcoming  the 
deadly  poison  ^  they  refresh  themselves  by  eating  them.  They 
made  known  the  plant  dittany.  For  they  eat  it,  and  shake  out 
the  arrows  that  have  stuck  in  them. 

19.  They  give  a  wondering  attention  to  the  whistling  sound 
of  the  Pan's  pipes.  They  listen  sharply  with  up-pricked  ears, 
not  with  hanging  ears.  If  ever  they  swim  across  great  rivers 
or  seas,  they  lay  the  head  on  the  haunch  of  the  one  in  front, 
and  following  one  another  in  turn  they  feel  no  weariness 
from  the  weight. 

43.  Horses  have  a  high  spirit ;  for  they  prance  in  the  fields, 
they  scent  war,  they  are  roused  by  the  trumpet-sound  to 
battle,  they  are  roused  by  the  voice  and  urged  to  the  race, 
they  grieve  when  they  are  beaten,  they  are  proud  when  they 
win  a  victory.  Certain  know  the  enemy  in  battle,  so  that  they 
bite  the  foe.  Some  recall  their  own  masters,  and  forget  obe- 
dience if  their  masters  are  changed ;  some  allow  none  but  their 
masters  to  mount  them;  when  their  masters  are  slain  or  are 
dying,  many  shed  tears.  The  horse  is  the  only  creature  that 
weeps  for  man  and  feels  the  emotion  of  grief.  .  .  . 

Chapter  2.    On  beasts  of  prey. 

5.  When  lions  sleep,  their  eyes  are  on  the  watch ;  when  they 
walk  about  they  obliterate  their  tracks  with  their  tails  that  the 
hunter  may  not  find  them.  When  a  cub  is  born  it  is  said  to 
sleep  for  three  nights  and  three  days.    Then  the  shaking,  as  it 

*  Superacta  pernicie  veneni. 


225]  ^^  ANIMALS  225 

were,  of  the  ground  where  it  lies,  because  of  its  father's  roar- 
ing, is  said  to  awaken  the  sleeping  cub. 

6.  Toward  man  the  nature  of  the  lion  is  kind,  so  that  they 
cannot  become  angry  unless  attacked.  Their  pity  is  shown 
by  continual  examples.  For  they  spare  the  fallen,  they  allow 
captives  they  meet  to  return  home ;  they  do  not  kill  man  unless 
very  hungry. 

17.  The  Gryphes  are  so  called  because  they  are  winged 
quadrupeds.  This  kind  of  wild  beast  is  found  in  the  Hyper- 
borean Mts.  In  every  part  of  their  body  they  are  lions,  and 
in  wings  and  head  are  like  eagles,  and  they  are  fierce  enemies 
of  horses.    Moreover  they  tear  men  to  pieces. 

20.  They  say  the  urine  [of  the  lynx]  is  changed  to  the 
hardness  of  a  precious  stone,  which  is  called  lincurius,  and  by 
the  following  proof  it  is  shown  that  the  lynxes  are  conscious 
of  this;  for  when  they  have  urinated,  they  cover  the  urine 
with  sand  as  well  as  they  can,  from  a  sort  of  meanness  of 
nature,  lest  such  a  product  be  turned  to  the  advantage  of  man. 

21.  Cast  ores  (beavers)  are  so  named  from  castrating.  For 
their  testicles  are  useful  for  medicine  and  therefore  when  they 
perceive  a  hunter,  they  castrate  themselves  and  cut  away  their 
potency  by  a  bite.  Of  these  Cicero  speaks  in  Scauriana: 
"  They  ransom  themselves  by  that  part  of  the  body  for  which 
they  are  most  sought." 

24.  [The  wolf]  is  a  ravenous  beast  and  greedy  for  blood, 
and  of  it  the  country  people  say  that  a  man  loses  his  voice  if 
a  wolf  sees  him  first.  And  therefore  if  a  person  is  suddenly 
silent,  they  say,  "  It  is  the  wolf  in  the  fable  ".  But  if  the  wolf 
perceives  that  he  has  been  noticed  first,  he  lays  aside  his 
boldness.  .  .  . 

25.  .  .  .  No  creature  is  more  sagacious  than  dogs,  for  they 
have  more  understanding  than  other  animals. 

26.  For  they  alone  recognize  their  names,  love  their  mas- 
ters, guard  their  masters'  houses,  risk  their  lives  for  their 
masters,  of  their  own  free  will  rush  upon  the  prey  with  their 
master,  do  not  abandon  even  their  master's  dead  body.  And 
finally  their  nature  is  such  that  they  cannot  exist  without  men. 
Ih  dogs  two  things  are  to  be  regarded,  courage  and  speed. 


226  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [226 

38.  Musio  is  so  called  because  it  is  a  foe  to  mice  (muribus). 
Common  people  call  it  cat  (catus)  because  it  catches  [mice]. 
Others  say,  because  it  sees  (catat).  For  it  has  such  sharp 
sight  that  it  overcomes  the  darkness  of  the  night  by  the  bright- 
ness of  its  eyes. 

Chapter  3.    On  small  animals. 

I.  Mus  (mouse)  is  a  tiny  animal;  it  has  a  Greek  name;^ 
but  any  word  that  is  derived  from  it  becomes  Latin.  Others 
say  mures  are  so  named  because  they  are  born  from  the 
humor  (moisture)  of  the  earth.  For  mus  is  equivalent  to 
terra,  and  from  the  word  comes  humus  too.  The  liver  of 
these  creatures  grows  at  the  full  moon,  just  as  certain  things 
that  belong  to  the  sea  grow,  which  grow  smaller  again  when 
the  moon  lessens. 

3.  Mustella  (weasel)  is  so  called,  being,  as  it  were,  mus 
longus  (long  mouse)  ;  for  telum  (missile)  is  so  called  from  its 
length.  This  creature,  somewhat  wily  in  its  disposition, 
moves  and  changes  its  nest  in  the  house  when  it  is  nursing  its 
young.  It  chases  snakes  and  mice.  And  there  are  two  sorts  of 
weasels.  For  one  is  a  creature  of  the  woods,  and  is  of  a  dif- 
ferent size,  which  the  Greeks  call  IktiSe^.  The  other  wanders 
about  in  houses.  Now  they  have  an  erroneous  idea  who  say 
that  the  weasel  conceives  in  its  mouth,  and  gives  birth  through 
its  ear.^ 

4.  In  Sardinia  is  a  very  tiny  creature,  spider-shaped,  which 
is  called  solifuga,  because  it  shuns  the  daylight.  It  is  very 
common  in  silver  mines,  secretly  creeping  along,  and  it  poisons 
those  who  unknowingly  sit  down  on  it. 

8.  Grillus  (cricket  or  grasshopper)  has  its  name  from  the 
sound  of  its  voice.  This  creature  walks  backward,  tunnels 
the  earth,  makes  a  loud  sound  at  night.  The  ant  goes  hunting 
it,  having  itself  lowered  by  a  hair  into  its  hole,  first  blowing 
the  dust  out,  that  it  may  not  hide  itself,  and  thus  it  is  dragged 
out  in  the  embrace  of  the  ant. 

*  The  Greek  is  fivg. 

'  A  notion  found  in  the  Physiologus. 


227]  ON  ANIMALS  227 

9.  Formica  (ant)  is  so  called  because  it  carries  morsels 
(ferat  micas)  of  grain.  Its  wisdom  is  great.  For  it  looks 
forward  to  the  future  and  in  summer  makes  ready  food  to  be 
eaten  in  winter.  At  the  harvest,  too,  it  picks  out  wheat  and 
refuses  to  touch  barley.  After  it  rains  it  always  puts  out  the 
grain  [to  dry].  It  is  said  there  are  ants  in  Ethiopia  of  a  dog's 
shape,  and  these  dig  up  golden  sands  with  their  feet,  and  they 
watch  them  in  order  that  no  one  may  carry  them  off,  and 
those  that  do  seize  them,  they  pursue  till  they  kill. 

10.  Formic oleon  (ant-lion)  has  its  name  for  this,  that  it  is 
a  lion  of  the  ants,  or  at  least  ant  and  lion  at  the  same  time. 
For  it  is  a  small  creature  that  is  very  hostile  to  ants.  It  hides 
itself  in  the  sand  and  kills  the  ants  as  they  are  carrying  grains. 
And  it  is  called  lion  and  ant  because  it  is,  as  it  were,  an  ant 
to  other  animals,  but  a  lion  to  ants.^ 

Chapter  4.    On  serpents. 

3.  The  serpent  has  received  its  name  because  it  crawls 
(serpit)  with  unnoticed  steps;  for  it  does  not  go  with  strides 
that  are  observable,  but  creeps  on  by  the  trifling  impulses  of 
its  scales.  But  those  that  go  on  four  feet,  like  lizards  and 
newts,  are  called  not  serpents  but  reptiles.  Now  serpents  are 
reptiles  because  they  creep  (reptant)  on  their  belly  and 
breast;  and  there  are  as  many  poisons  as  there  are  genera; 
as  many  deaths  as  there  are  species ;  as  many  dolors,  as  colors. 

4.  The  dragon  (draco)  is  the  largest  of  all  serpents  and  of 
all  living  things  upon  earth.  This  the  Greeks  call  dparnvra- 
And  it  was  taken  into  the  Latin  so  that  it  was  called  Draco. 
And  frequently  being  dragged  from  caves  it  rushes  into  the 
air,  and  the  air  is  thrown  into  commotion  on  account  of  it. 
And  it  is  crested,  has  a  small  face  and  narrow  blow-holes 

^  This  animal  is  of  literary  origin  and  illustrates  the  danger  of  a 
literary  science.  For  some  reason  the  Septuagint  translators  trans- 
lated the  Hebrew  word  for  lion  in  Job  4: 11  by  the  word  uvpfifjKoXiuv. 
The  commentators  later  on,  in  their  efforts  to  explain  the  term,  evolved 
a  new  animal,  a  compound  of  ant  and  lion.  See  Lauchert,  Geschichte 
des  Physiologus,  p.  21,  and  art  "  Physiologus "  in  the  Encyclopedia 
Britannica,  nth  ed. 


228  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [228 

through  which  it  draws  its  breath  and  thrusts  out  its  tongue 
And  it  has  its  strength  not  in  its  teeth  but  in  its  tail,  and  it  is 
dangerous  for  its  stroke,  rather  than  for  its  jaws. 

5.  It  is  harmless  in  the  way  of  poison,  but  poison  is  not 
necessary  for  it  to  cause  death,  because  it  kills  whatever  it 
has  entangled  in  its  folds.  And  from  it  the  elephant  is  not 
safe  because  of  its  size.  For  it  lies  in  wait  near  the  paths  by 
which  elephants  usually  go,  and  entangles  the  elephant's  legs 
in  its  folds,  and  kills  it  by  strangling.  It  grows  in  Ethiopia 
and  in  India,  in  the  very  burning  of  perennial  heat. 

12.  It  is  said  that  when  the  asp  begins  to  feel  the  influence 
of  the  wizard  who  summons  her  forth  with  certain  forms  of 
words  suited  thereto,  in  order  that  he  may  bring  her  out  from 
her  hole — when  the  asp  is  unwilling  to  come  forth,  she  presses 
one  ear  against  the  earth,  and  the  other  she  closes  and  covers 
up  with  her  tail,  and  so  refuses  to  hear  those  magical  sounds, 
and  does  not  come  out  at  the  incantation. 

36.  The  Salamander  is  so  called  because  it  is  strong  against 
fire ;  and  amid  all  poisons  its  power  is  the  greatest.  For  other 
[poisonous  animals]  strike  individuals;  this  slays  very  many 
at  the  same  time;  for  if  it  crawls  up  a  tree,  it  infects  all  the 
fruit  with  poison  and  slays  those  who  eat  it;  nay,  even  if  it 
falls  in  a  well,  the  power  of  the  poison  slays  those  who  drink 
it.  It  fights  against  fires,  and  alone  among  living  things,  ex- 
tinguishes them.  For  it  lives  in  the  midst  of  flames  without 
pain  and  without  being  consumed,  and  not  only  is  it  not 
burned,  but  it  puts  the  fire  out. 

Chapter  5.    On  worms. 

I.  A  worm  is  a  creature  that  as  a  rule  comes  into  being 
without  any  begetting  from  flesh  or  wood  or  any  earthy  sub- 
stance, although  sometimes  they  are  born  from  eggs,  as  the 
scorpion.  Worms  belong  either  to  earth  or  water  or  air  ^  or 
flesh  or  leaves  or  wood  or  clothes. 

3.  Sanguissuga,  a  water  worm,  is  so  named  because  it  sucks 
blood.    For  it  lies  in  wait  for  drinkers,  and  when  it  is  carried 

^Aranea,  vermis  aeris,  12,  5,  2. 


229]  ^^  ANIMALS  220 

into  their  throats  or  fastens  itself  anywhere,  it  draws  the 
blood,  and  when  it  has  taken  its  fill  of  gore,  it  vomits  it  out, 
to  suck  in  again  fresh  blood. 

Chapter  6.    On  fishes. 

3.  Certain  kinds  of  fishes  are  amphibious,  being  so  called 
because  they  have  the  practice  of  walking  on  land  and  of 
swimming  in  the  water. 

4.  Men  gave  names  to  the  beasts  of  the  field  and  wild 
animals  and  birds,  before  the  fishes,  because  they  were  seen 
and  known  first.  And  later,  when  the  kinds  of  fishes  had 
been  learned  by  degrees,  names  were  applied  either  from  their 
likeness  to  land  animals,  or  to  suit  the  species,  whether  in  re- 
gard to  habits,  color,  shape,  or  sex. 

6.  [Fish  receive  their  names]  from  sex,  as  the  musculus 
(mussel)  because  it  is  the  masculine  of  whale,  for  by  union 
with  the  mussel  it  is  said  this  monster  conceives. 

8.  There  are  huge  sorts  of  whales  with  bodies  the  size  of 
mountains,  like  the  whale  that  received  Jonah,  whose  belly 
was  of  such  magnitude  that  it  held  something  like  a  hell,  the 
prophet  saying :  "  He  heard  me  from  the  belly  of  hell ". 

14.  Thynni  (tunnies)  have  a  Greek  name.  They  appear  in 
spring-time.  They  come  in  on  the  right  side  and  go  out  on 
the  left.  They  are  supposed  to  do  this  because  they  see  more 
keenly  with  the  right  eye  than  with  the  left. 

25.  Mullus,  so  called  because  it  is  mollis  (soft)  and  most 
tender,  by  eating  which  they  relate  that  lust  is  held  in  check 
and  that  the  keenness  of  the  sight  is  dimmed;  moreover  men 
who  have  often  eaten  it  have  a  fishy  smell.  The  killing  of  a 
mullet  in  wine  brings  a  distaste  for  wine  to  those  who  have 
drunk  thereof. 

34.  Echeneis,  a  small  fish,  half-a-foot  long,  took  its  name 
because  it  holds  a  ship  ^  back  by  clinging  to  it.  Though  the 
winds  rush  and  the  gusts  rage  it  is  seen  nevertheless  that  the 
ship  stands  still  as  if  rooted  in  the  sea,  and  does  not  move, 
not  because  the  fish  holds  it  back  but  merely  because  it  clings 
to  it. 


230  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [230 

35.  The  uranoscope  is  so  called  from  an  eye  which  it  has  in 
its  head,  by  which  it  always  looks  upward. 

41.  The  likeness  of  the  eel  (anguilla)  to  the  snake  (anguis) 
has  given  it  its  name.  Its  origin  is  in  mud.  Whence  when- 
soever it  is  taken,  it  is  so  slippery  that  the  more  determinedly 
one  squeezes  it  the  quicker  it  slips  away.  They  say,  too,  that 
a  river  of  the  east,  the  Ganges,  produces  them  three  hundred 
feet  long.  If  an  eel  is  killed  in  wine  they  who  drink  of  it 
have  a  loathing  for  wine. 

43.  Lamprey  (muraena)  the  Greeks  term  (ivpaiva^  because  it 
coils  itself  in  circles.  They  say  that  this  fish  is  of  the  female 
sex  only,  and  that  it  conceives  from  the  serpent.  On  this  ac- 
count it  is  enticed  by  the  fishermen  by  hissing  like  a  serpent, 
and  it  is  taken.  It  is  killed  with  difficulty  by  the  stroke  of  a 
club  but  at  once  by  that  of  a  ferule.  It  is  certain  that  it  has 
its  life  in  its  tail,  for  if  the  head  is  struck  it  is  hard  to  kill  it, 
but  when  its  tail  is  struck  it  dies  at  once. 

53.  Mussels  (musculi)  as  we  have  said  before  are  shell- 
fish, and  oysters  conceive  from  their  milk,  and  they  are  called 
musculi  as  if  it  were  masculi. 

56.  Certain  relate  what  is  incredible,  that  ships  go  more 
slowly  if  they  carry  a  tortoise's  right  foot. 

Chapter  7.    On  birds. 

3.  Birds  (aves)  are  so  called  because  they  have  no  definite 
roads  (viae)  but  speed  hither  and  thither  through  pathless 
(avia)  ways. 

9.  Many  names  of  birds  were  evidently  made  up  from  the 
sound  of  their  cry,  as  grus,  corvus,  cygnus,  pavo,  ulula, 
cuculus,  gr  a  cuius,  and  so  on.  For  the  variety  of  their  cry 
told  men  what  they  were  to  be  called. 

10.  The  eagle  (aquila)  is  so  called  from  its  sharpness 
(acumine)  of  sight.  For  it  is  said  to  possess  such  power  of 
vision  that  when  it  is  borne  over  the  sea  with  motionless  wing 
and  is  not  visible  to  human  sight,  even  from  such  a  lofty  place 
it  sees  the  fishes  swim,  and  descending  like  a  missile  from  an 
engine  it  seizes  its  booty  and  flies  with  it  to  the  shore. 

11.  It  is  also  said  not  to  lower  its  gaze  from  the  rays  of  the 


231]  ON  ANIMALS  23 1 

sun,  and  for  this  reason  it  lifts  its  young  ones  in  its  talons  and 
exposes  them  to  the  rays  of  the  sun,  and  keeps  as  worthy  of 
its  kind  those  which  it  sees  keep  a  motionless  gaze,  and  drops 
down  as  degenerate  whatever  ones  it  sees  turning  their  gaze 
downward. 

18.  The  swan  (cygnus)  is  so  called  from  singing,  because 
it  pours  forth  sweet  song  in  modulated  tones.  And  it  sings 
sweetly  for  the  reason  that  it  has  a  long  curving  neck,  and  it 
must  needs  be  that  the  voice,  struggling  out  by  a  long  and 
winding  way,  should  utter  various  notes. 

19.  They  say  that  in  the  Hyperborean  regions  when  cithara 
players  lead,  many  swans  fly  up  and  sing  very  harmoniously. 

44.  The  crow  (comix) ^  a  bird  full  of  years,  has  a  Greek 
name  ^  among  the  Latins,  and  augurs  say  it  increases  a  man's 
anxieties  by  the  tokens  it  gives,  that  it  reveals  ambushes,  and 
foretells  the  future.  It  is  great  wickedness  to  believe  this, 
that  God  entrusts  his  counsels  to  crows. 

66.  To  the  hoopoe  (upupa)  the  Greeks  give  its  name  be- 
cause it  attends  to  (consideret)  human  excrements  and  feeds 
on  stinking  filth,  a  most  foul  bird,  helmeted  with  upstanding 
crests,  always  lingering  at  graves  and  human  excrements. 
And  whoever  anoints  himself  with  its  blood,  on  going  to  sleep 
will  see  demons  choking  him. 

67.  Tuci,  which  is  the  name  the  Spaniards  give  to  cuckoos 
(cuculi),  were  evidently  named  from  their  peculiar  cry.  These 
have  a  time  for  coming,  perched  on  the  shoulders  of  kites 
because  of  their  short  and  weak  flights,  in  order  that  they 
may  not  grow  weary  and  fail  in  the  long  spaces  of  the  air. 
Their  saliva  produces  grasshoppers.  [The  cuckoo]  eats  the 
eggs  it  finds  in  the  sparrow's  nest,  and  substitutes  its  own, 
which  the  sparrow  receives  and  sets  on  and  cares  for. 

79.  All  kinds  of  flying  things  are  born  twice.  For  first  the 
eggs  are  born,  then  by  the  heat  of  the  mother's  body  they  are 
formed  and  given  life. 

1  Comix  is  not  a  Greek  word,  as  Isidore  seems  to  imply.  Its  nearest 
Greek  equivalent  is  Kop^vt]. 


232  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  ^2^2 

Chapter  8.    On  small  winged  creatures. 

1.  Bees  (apes)  are  so  called  because  they  hold  to  one  an- 
other by  the  feet,  or  it  may  be  because  they  are  born  without 
feet  (pes).  For  it  is  only  later  on  that  they  get  feet  and 
wings.  These  are  skilful  in  the  business  of  producing  honey, 
they  dwell  in  homes  allotted  to  them,  they  arrange  their  dwell- 
ings with  a  skill  that  makes  no  mistake,  they  store  the  hive 
from  various  flowers,  and  forming  their  wax-cells,  they  fill 
the  camp  with  unnumbered  young,  and  they  have  an  army 
and  kings,  they  make  wars,  flee  from  smoke,  and  are  enraged 
by  noise. 

2.  A  good  many  have  proved  by  experiment  that  these 
spring  from  the  carcasses  of  cattle.  For  in  order  to  create 
them  the  flesh  of  slain  calves  is  beaten,  in  order  that  worms 
may  be  created  from  the  rotten  gore,  and  these  afterward 
turn  to  bees.  In  a  correct  sense  bees  (apes)  are  so  called  be- 
cause they  spring  from  boves  as  hornets  from  horses,  drones 
from  mules,  wasps  from  asses. 


BOOKS  XIII  AND  XIV 


INTRODUCTION 


In  books  XIII  and  XIV  Isidore  gives  a  complete  and 
systematic  account  of  the  material  universe,  taking  up  and 
treating  in  order  the  heavens,  the  atmosphere,  water,  and 
earth.  His  treatment  of  the  last  two  is  especially  full  and 
constitutes  a  geographical  description  of  the  earth's  surface 
as  known  at  his  time/ 

analysis 

I.  The  universe  (Bk.  XII,  ch.  i). 
II.  Atoms  (ch.  2). 

III.  Elements  (ch.  3). 

IV.  The  heavens  (chs.  4-6). 

1.  The  parts  of  the  heavens.* 

2.  The  circles  of  the  heavens.* 

V.  The  air  and  the  clouds  (chs.  7-1 1). 

1.  Thunder. 

2.  Lightning. 

3.  The  rainbow  and  cloud  forms. 

4.  The  winds. 

VI.  Waters  (chs.  12-22). 

1.  Springs. 

2.  The  sea. 

3.  The  ocean. 

4.  The  Mediterranean. 

*  Cf.  Beazley,  The  Dawn  of  Modern  Geography,  pp.  366-67.    See  also 
p.  53,  note. 
2  Repeated  with  little  change  from  De  Astronomia.    See  pp.  I45»  146. 
233]  233 


234  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [234 

5.  Bays,  etc. 

6.  Lakes. 

7.  The  abyss. 

8.  Rivers. 

VII.  The  dry  land  (Bk.  XIV,  ch.  i). 

1.  The  circle  of  lands  (chs.  2-5). 
(i)  Asia. 

(2)  Europe. 

(3)  Africa. 

2.  Islands  (ch.  6). 

3.  Promontories  (ch.  7). 

4.  Mountains,  etc.  (ch.  8). 

5.  The  lower  parts  of  the  earth  (ch.  9). 


BOOK  XIII 

On  the  Universe  and  its  Parts 
extracts 

Preface. — In  this  book,  as  it  were  in  a  brief  outline  we 
have  commented  on  certain  causes  in  the  heavens,  and  the 
sites  of  the  lands,  and  the  spaces  of  the  sea,  so  that  the  reader 
may  run  them  over  in  a  little  time,  and  learn  their  etymolo- 
gies and  causes  with  compendious  brevity. 

Chapter  i.    On  the  universe. 

I.  The  universe  is  the  heavens,  the  earth,  the  sea,  and  what 
in  them  is  the  work  of  God,  of  whom  it  is  said :  "  And  the 
universe  was  made  by  him  ".  The  universe  (mundus)  is  so 
named  in  Latin  by  the  philosophers  because  it  is  in  continued 
motion  (motu),  as  for  example,  the  heavens,  the  sun,  moon, 
air,  seas.  For  no  rest  is  permitted  to  its  elements,  and  there- 
fore it  is  always  in  motion. 

234]  234 


235]  ^^  ^^^  UNIVERSE  AND  ITS  PARTS  235 

2.  Whence  also  the  elements  seem  to  Varro  living  creatures, 
since,  he  says,  they  move  of  themselves.  The  Greeks  have 
borrowed  a  name  for  the  universe  from  ornament,  on  account 
of  the  variety  of  the  elements  and  the  beauty  of  the  stars. 
For  it  is  called  among  them  Kdafioq^  which  means  ornament. 
For  with  the  eyes  of  the  flesh  we  see  nothing  fairer  than  the 
universe. 

3.  It  is  agreed  that  there  are  four  climata,  that  is,  tracts 
of  the  universe :  East,  West,  North,  South. 

Chapter  2.    On  the  atoms. 

1.  The  philosophers  call  by  the  name  of  atoms  certain  parts 
of  bodies  in  the  universe  so  very  minute  that  they  do  not 
appear  to  the  sight,  nor  admit  of  rofiv,  that  is,  division,  whence 
they  are  called  atoms.  These  are  said  to  flit  through  the  void 
of  the  whole  universe  with  restless  motions,  and  to  move 
hither  and  thither  like  the  finest  dust  that  is  seen  when  the 
rays  of  the  sun  pour  through  the  windows.  From  these 
certain  philosophers  of  the  heathen  have  thought  that  trees 
are  produced,  and  herbs  and  all  fruits,  and  fire  and  water, 
and  all  things  are  made  out  of  them. 

2.  Atoms  exist  either  in  a  body,  or  in  time,  or  in  number, 
or  in  the  letters.  In  a  body  as  a  stone.  You  divide  it  into 
parts,  and  the  parts  themselves  you  divide  into  grains  like 
the  sands,  and  again  you  divide  the  very  grains  of  sand  into 
the  finest  dust,  until  if  you  could,  you  would  come  to  some 
little  particle  which  is  now  [such]  that  it  cannot  be  divided  or 
cut.    This  is  an  atom  in  a  body. 

3.  In  time,  the  atom  is  thus  understood :  you  divide  a  year, 
for  example,  into  months,  the  months  into  days,  the  days  into 
hours,  the  parts  of  the  hours  still  admit  of  division,  until  you 
come  to  such  an  instant  of  time  and  fragment  of  a  moment  as 
it  were,  that  it  cannot  be  lengthened  by  any  little  bit  and  there- 
fore it  cannot  be  divided.    This  is  the  atom  of  time. 

4.  In  numbers,  as  for  example,  eight  is  divided  into  fours, 
again  four  into  twos,  then  two  into  ones.  One  is  an  atom 
because  it  is  indivisible.     So  also  in  case  of  the  letters.     For 


236  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [236 

you  divide  a  speech  into  words,  words  into  syllables,  the  syl- 
lable into  letters.  The  letter,  the  smallest  part,  is  the  atom 
and  cannot  be  divided.  The  atom  is  therefore  what  cannot  be 
divided,  like  the  point  in  geometry.  .  .  . 

Chapter  3.    On  the  elements. 

1.  Hyle  ^  is  the  name  the  Greeks  apply  to  the  first  material 
of  things,  which  is  in  no  way  formed,  but  has  a  capacity  for 
all  bodily  forms,  and  out  of  it  these  visible  elements  are 
shaped.  Wherefore  they  have  derived  their  name  from  this 
source.'  This  hyle  the  Latins  called  materia,  for  the  reason 
that  everything  in  the  rough  from  which  something  is  made, 
is  always  called  materia.  .  .  . 

2.  The  Greeks  moreover  call  the  elements  Groixeia,'^  because 
they  are  akin  to  one  another  in  the  harmony  of  like  quality  and 
a  sort  of  common  character,  for  they  are  said  to  be  allied  with 
one  another  in  a  natural  way,  now  tracing  their  origin  from 
fire  all  the  way  to  earth,  now  from  earth  all  the  way  to  fire, 
so  that  fire  fades  into  air,  air  is  thickened  to  water,  water 
coarsened  to  earth,  and  again  earth  is  dissolved  into  water, 
water  refined  into  air,  air  rarefied  into  fire. 

3.  Wherefore  all  elements  are  present  in  all,  but  each  of 
them  has  received  its  name  from  that  which  it  has  in  greater 
degree.  And  they  have  been  assigned  by  divine  providence 
to  the  living  creatures  that  are  suited  to  them,  for  the  Creator 
himself  filled  the  heaven  with  angels,  the  air  with  birds,  the 
sea  with  fish,  the  earth  with  men  and  other  living  creatures. 

Chapter  5.    On  the  parts  of  the  heavens. 

I.  Ether  is  the  place  in  which  the  stars  are,  and  it  signifies 
that  fire  which  is  separated  on  high  from  the  whole  universe. 
Ether  is  the  element  itself ;  and  aethra  is  the  glow  of  the  ether 
and  is  a  Greek  word. 

'I.  e.,  element  a  =  hylementa. 

•  The  word  aroixdov  means  "  one  in  a  series." 


237]  ^^  ^^^  UNIVERSE  AND  ITS  PARTS  237 

Chapter  7.     On  the  air  and  the  clouds. 

1.  Air  is  emptiness,  having  more  rarity  mixed  with  it  than 
the  other  elements.    Of  it  Virgil  says : 

Longum  per  inane  secutus. 

Air  (aer)  is  so  called  from  aipeiv  (to  raise),  because  it  sup- 
ports the  earth  or,  it  may  be,  is  supported  by  it.  This  belongs 
partly  to  the  substance  of  heaven,  partly  to  that  of  the  earth. 
For  yonder  thin  air  where  windy  and  gusty  blasts  cannot 
come  into  existence,  belongs  to  the  heavenly  part;  but  this 
more  disordered  air  which  takes  a  corporeal  character  be- 
cause of  dank  exhalations,  is  assigned  to  earth,  and  it  has 
many  subdivisions:  for  being  set  in  motion  it  makes  winds; 
and  being  vigorously  agitated,  lightnings  and  thunderings; 
being  contracted,  clouds;  being  thickened,  rain;  when  the 
clouds  freeze,  snow;  when  thick  clouds  freeze  in  a  more  dis- 
ordered way,  hail ;  being  spread  abroad,  it  causes  fine  weather ; 
for  it  is  known  that  thick  air  is  a  cloud  and  that  a  cloud  that 
thins  and  melts  away,  is  air. 

2.  ...  Now  the  thickening  of  the  air  makes  clouds.  For 
the  winds  gather  the  air  together  and  make  a  cloud.  Whence 
is  the  expression :  "  Atque  in  nubem  cogitur  aer." 

Chapter  8.    On  thunder. 

1.  Thunder  (tonitruum)  is  so  called  because  its  sound  ter- 
rifies (terreat),  for  tonus  is  sound.  And  it  sometimes  shakes 
everything  so  severely  that  it  seems  to  have  split  the  heavens, 
since  when  a  great  gust  of  the  most  furious  wind  suddenly 
bursts  into  the  clouds,  its  circular  motion  becoming  stronger 
and  seeking  an  outlet,  it  tears  asunder  with  great  force  the 
cloud  it  has  hollowed  out,  and  thus  comes  to  our  ears  with  a 
horrifying  noise. 

2.  One  ought  not  to  wonder  at  this  since  a  vesicle,  however 
small,  emits  a  great  sound  when  it  is  exploded.  Lightning  is 
caused  at  the  same  time  with  the  thunder,  but  the  former  is 
seen  more  quickly  because  it  is  bright  and  the  latter  comes  to 
our  ears  more  slowly.  .  .  . 


238  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [238 

Chapter  9.     On  thunder-bolts. 

1.  .  .  .Clouds  striking  together  make  thunder-bolts:  for 
in  all  things  collision  creates  fire,  as  we  see  in  the  case  of 
stones,  or  when  wheels  rub  together,  or  in  the  woods.  In  the 
same  way  fire  is  created  in  the  clouds ;  whence  they  are  clouds 
before,  lightnings  later. 

2.  It  is  certain  that  it  is  from  wind  and  fire  that  thunder- 
bolts are  formed  in  the  clouds,  and  that  they  are  launched  by 
the  impulse  of  the  winds;  and  the  fire  of  a  thunder-bolt  has 
greater  force  in  penetrating  because  it  is  made  of  subtler  ele- 
ments than  our  fire,  that  is,  the  fire  we  make  use  of.  .  .  . 

Chapter  10.    On  the  rainbow  and  the  causes  of  clouds. 

1.  The  rainbow  is  so  called  from  its  resemblance  to  a  bent 
bow.  Its  proper  name  is  Iris  and  it  is  called  Iris,  as  it  were 
aeris  (of  the  air),  because  it  comes  down  through  the  air  to 
earth.  It  comes  from  the  radiance  of  the  sun  when  hollow 
clouds  receive  the  sun's  ray  full  in  front,  and  they  create  the 
appearance  of  a  bow,  and  rarified  water,  bright  air,  and  a 
misty  cloud  under  the  beams  of  the  sun  create  those  varied 
hues. 

2.  Rains  {pluviae)  are  so  called  because  they  flow,  as  if 
fluviae.  They  arise  by  exhalation  from  earth  and  sea,  and 
being  carried  aloft  they  fall  in  drops  on  the  lands,  being  acted 
upon  by  the  heat  of  the  sun  or  condensed  by  strong  winds. 

13.  Shadow  (umbra)  is  air  that  lacks  sun,  and  is  so  called 
because  it  is  made  when  we  interpose  ourselves  in  the  rays  of 
the  sun.  It  moves  and  is  ill-defined,  because  of  the  motion  of 
the  sun  and  the  force  of  the  wind.  As  often  as  we  move  in 
the  sun,  it  seems  to  move  with  us,  because  wherever  we  en- 
counter the  rays  of  the  sun,  we  take  the  light  from  that  place, 
and  so  the  shadow  seems  to  walk  with  us  and  to  imitate  our 
motions. 

Chapter  11.    On  the  winds. 

2.  There  are  four  chief  winds.  The  first  of  these  is  from 
the  east,  Subsolanus,  and  Auster  from  the  south,  Favonius 
from  the  west,  and  from  Septentrio   (north)  a  wind  of  the 


239]  O^  ^^^  UNIVERSE  AND  ITS  PARTS  239 

same  name  blows.  These  winds  have  kindred  winds  one  on 
each  side. 

3.  Subsolanus  has  on  its  right  Vulturnus,  on  its  left  Eurus; 
Auster  has  on  its  right  Euroauster,  on  its  left  Austroafricus ; 
Favonius  on  its  right  Africus,  on  its  left  Corns.  Further, 
Septentrio  has  on  its  right  Circius,  on  its  left  Aquilo.  These 
twelve  winds  surround  the  globe  of  the  universe  with  their 
blasts. 

20.  ...  In  the  spring  and  autumn  the  greatest  possible 
storms  appear  when  it  is  neither  full  summer  nor  full  winter, 
whence,  as  [the  time]  is  an  intervening  one,  bordering  on  both 
seasons,  storms  are  caused  from  the  conjunction  of  contrary 
airs. 

Chapter  12.    On  the  waters. 

2.  The  two  most  powerful  elements  of  human  life  are  fire 
and  water,  whence  they  who  are  forbidden  fire  and  water  are 
seriously  punished. 

3.  The  element  of  water  is  master  of  all  the  rest.  For  the 
waters  temper  the  heavens,  fertilize  the  earth,  incorporate  air 
in  their  exhalations,  climb  aloft  and  claim  the  heavens;  for 
what  is  more  marvelous  than  the  waters  keeping  their  place 
in  the  heavens! 

4.  It  is  too  small  a  thing  to  come  to  such  a  height;  they 
carry  with  them  thither  swarms  of  fishes ;  pouring  forth,  they 
are  the  cause  of  all  growth  on  the  earth.  They  produce  fruits, 
they  make  fruit  trees  and  herbs  grow,  they  scour  away  filth, 
wash  away  sin,  and  give  drink  to  all  living  things. 

Chapter  13.    On  the  different  qualities  of  waters. 

5.  Linus,  a  fountain  of  Arcadia,  does  not  allow  miscarriages 
to  take  place.  In  Sicily  are  two  springs,  of  which  one  makes 
the  sterile  woman  fertile,  the  other  makes  the  fertile,  sterile. 
In  Thessaly  are  two  rivers ;  they  say  that  sheep  drinking  from 
one  become  black;  from  the  other,  white;  from  both,  parti- 
colored. 

10.  Hot  springs  in  Sardinia  cure  the  eyes;  they  betray 
thieves,  for  their  guilt  is  revealed  by  blindness.     They  say 


240  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [240 

there  is  a  spring  in  Epirus  in  which  lighted  torches  are  ex- 
tinguished, and  torches  that  are  extinguished  are  lighted. 
Among  the  Garamantes  they  say  there  is  a  spring  so  cold  in 
the  daytime  that  it  cannot  be  drunk,  so  hot  at  night  that  it 
cannot  be  touched. 

Chapter  14.    On  the  sea. 

2.  .  .  .  The  depth  of  the  sea  varies;  still  the  level  of  its 
surface  is  invariable. 

3.  Moreover  that  the  sea  does  not  increase,  though  it  re- 
ceives all  streams  and  all  springs,  is  accounted  for  in  this 
way;  partly  that  its  very  greatness  does  not  feel  the  waters 
flowing  in;  secondly,  because  the  bitter  water  consumes  the 
fresh  that  is  added,  or  that  the  clouds  draw  up  much  water  to 
themselves,  or  that  the  winds  carry  it  off,  and  the  sun  partly 
dries  it  up;  lastly,  because  the  water  leaks  through  certain 
secret  holes  in  the  earth,  and  turns  and  runs  back  to  the 
sources  of  rivers  and  to  the  springs. 

Chapter  15.    On  the  ocean. 

1.  Oceanus  is  so  named  by  both  Greeks  and  Latins  because 
it  flows  like  a  circle  around  the  circle  of  the  land ;  it  may  be 
from  its  speed  because  it  runs  swiftly  {ocius)  ;  or  because 
like  the  heavens  it  glows  with  a  dark  purple  color.  Oceanus 
is,  as  it  were,  Kvdveog  (dark  purple).  It  is  this  that  embraces 
the  shores  of  the  lands,  approaching  and  receding  with  alter- 
nate tides.  For  when  the  winds  breathe  in  the  depths,  it 
either  pushes  the  waters  away  or  sucks  them  back. 

2.  And  it  has  taken  different  names  from  the  neighboring 
lands;  as  Gallicus,  Germanicus,  Scythicus,  Caspius,  Hyrcanus, 
Atlanticus,  Gaditanus.  The  Gaditanian  strait  was  named 
from  Gades  where  the  entrance  to  the  Mare  Magnum  first 
opens  from  the  Ocean.  Whence  when  Hercules  had  come  to 
Gades  he  placed  the  columns  there,  believing  that  there  was 
the  limit  of  the  circle  of  the  lands. 

Chapter  16.    On  the  Mediterranean  Sea. 

I.  The  Mare  Magnum  is  that  which  flows  from  the  west 
out  of  the  Ocean  and  extends  toward  the  South,  and  then 


241]  ON  THE  UNIVERSE  AND  ITS  PARTS  241 

stretches  to  the  North.  And  it  is  called  Magnum  because  the 
rest  of  the  seas  are  smaller  in  comparison  with  it.  It  is  also 
called  Mediterranean  because  it  flows  through  the  midst  of 
the  land  (per  mediam  terrain)  as  far  as  the  Orient,  separating 
Europe  and  Africa  and  Asia. 

Chapter  20.    On  the  abyss. 

I.  The  abyss  is  the  deep  water  which  cannot  be  penetrated; 
whether  caverns  of  unknown  waters  from  which  springs  and 
rivers  flow;  or  the  waters  that  pass  secretly  beneath,  whence 
it  is  called  abyss.  For  all  waters  or  torrents  return  by  secret 
channels  to  the  abyss  which  is  their  source. 

Chapter  21.    On  rivers. 

6.  Certain  of  the  rivers  have  received  their  names  from 
causes  peculiar  to  them,  and  of  these  some  which  are  told  of 
as  famous  in  history  should  be  mentioned. 

7.  Geon  is  a  river  issuing  from  Paradise  and  surrounding 
the  whole  of  Ethiopia,  being  called  by  this  name  because  it 
waters  the  land  of  Egypt  by  its  flood,  for  7^  in  the  Greek 
means  terra  in  the  Latin.  This  river  is  called  Nile  by  the 
Egyptians,  on  account  of  the  mud  which  it  brings,  which  gives 
fertility. 

8.  The  river  Ganges,  which  the  holy  Scriptures  call  Phison, 
issuing  from  Paradise,  takes  its  course  toward  the  regions  of 
India.  ...  It  is  said  to  rise  in  the  manner  of  the  Nile  and 
overflow  the  lands  of  the  East. 

9.  The  Tigris,  a  river  of  Mesopotamia,  rises  in  Paradise, 
and  flows  opposite  the  Assyrians  {contra  Assyrios),  and  after 
many  windings  flows  into  the  Dead  Sea.  And  it  is  called  by 
this  name  because  of  its  velocity,  like  a  wild  beast  that  runs 
with  great  speed. 

10.  The  Euphrates,  a  river  of  Mesopotamia,  greatly  abound- 
ing in  gems,  rises  in  Paradise  and  flows  through  the  midst  of 
Babylonia.  ...  It  irrigates  Mesopotamia  in  certain  places 
just  as  the  Nile  does  Alexandria.  Sallust,  however,  a  most  re- 
liable author,  asserts  that  the  Tigris  and  the  Euphrates  arise 
from  one  source  in  Armenia,  and  going  by  different  ways  are 


242  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [242 

far  separated,  an  intervening  space  of  many  miles  being  left, 
and  the  land  which  is  enclosed  by  them  is  called  Mesopotamia. 
Therefore  as  Hieronymous  noted,  there  must  be  a  different 
explanation  of  the  rivers  of  Paradise. 

24.  Tanus  was  the  first  king  of  the  Scythians,  from  whom 
the  river  Tanais  is  said  to  have  been  named.  It  rises  in  the 
Riphaean  forest,  and  separates  Europe  from  Asia,  flowing  in 
the  midst  between  two  divisions  of  the  world,  and  emptying 
into  the  Pontus. 

35.  Certain  rivers  were  overwhelmed  in  the  flood,  and  shut 
off  by  the  mass  of  the  lands,  but  certain  ones  which  were  not, 
burst  forth  by  passages  that  were  at  that  time  violently  formed 
from  the  abyss. 

Chapter  22.    On  floods. 

2.  The  first  flood  occurred  under  Noah,  when  the  Omnipo- 
tent, offended  at  man's  guilty  deeds,  covered  the  whole  circle 
of  the  lands  ^  and  destroyed  all,  and  there  was  one  stretch  of 
sky  and  sea;  and  we  observe  the  proof  of  this  to  the  present 
time  in  the  stones  which  we  are  wont  to  go  to  see  in  the  distant 
mountains,  which  have  mingled  in  them  the  shells  of  mussels 
and  oysters,  and  besides  are  often  hollowed  by  the  waters. 

3.  The  second  flood  was  in  Achaea  in  the  time  of  the  patri- 
arch Jacob  and  of  Ogygius,  who  was  the  founder  and  king  of 
Eleusina,  and  gave  his  name  to  the  place  and  time. 

4.  The  third  flood  was  in  Thessaly  in  the  time  of  Moses 
and  Amphictyon,  who  reigned  third  after  Cecrops.  At  which 
time  a  flood  of  waters  destroyed  the  greater  part  of  the  peo- 
ples of  Thessaly,  a  few  escaping  by  taking  refuge  in  the 
mountains,  especially  on  mount  Parnassus,  on  whose  circuit 
Deucalion  then  possessed  dominion.  And  he  received  those 
who  fled  to  him  on  rafts,  and  warmed  and  fed  them  on  the 
twin  peaks  of  Parnassus,  and  so  the  fables  of  the  Greeks  say 
that  the  human  race  was  re-created  from  stones — because  of 
the  inborn  hardness  of  the  heart  of  man. 

1  Orbis. 


243]  ^^^'  ^^^  UNIVERSE  AND  ITS  PARTS  243 

BOOK  XIV 

On  the  Earth  and  its  Parts 

extracts 

Chapter  i.    On  the  earth. 

1.  The  earth  is  placed  in  the  middle  region  of  the  universe, 
being  situated  like  a  center  at  an  equal  interval  from  all  parts 
of  heaven ;  in  the  singular  number  it  means  the  whole  circle  ;* 
in  the  plural  ^  the  separate  parts ;  and  reason  gives  different 
names  for  it ;  for  it  is  called  terra  from  the  upper  part  where 
it  suffers  attrition  (teritur) ;  humus  from  the  lower  and 
humid  part,  as  for  example,  under  the  sea;  again,  tellus,  be- 
cause we  take  (tollimus)  its  fruits;  it  is  also  called  ops  be- 
cause it  brings  opulence.  It  is  likewise  called  arva,  from 
ploughing  (arando)  and  cultivating. 

2.  Earth  in  distinction  from  water  is  called  dry;  since  the 
Scripture  says  that  "  God  called  the  dry  land,  earth  ".  For 
dryness  is  the  natural  property  of  earth.  Its  dampness  it  gets 
by  its  relation  to  water.  As  to  its  motion  (earthquakes) 
some  say  it  is  wind  in  its  hollow  parts,  the  force  of  which 
causes  it  to  move. 

3.  Others  say  that  a  generative  water  moves  in  the  lands, 
and  causes  them  to  strike  together,  sicut  vas,  as  Lucretius 
says.  Others  have  it  that  the  earth  is  sponge-shaped,  and  its 
fallen  parts  lying  in  ruins  cause  all  the  upper  parts  to  shake. 
The  yawning  of  the  earth  also  is  caused  either  by  the  motion 
of  the  lower  water,  or  by  frequent  thunderings,  or  by  winds 
bursting  out  of  the  hollow  parts  of  the  earth. 

^  Orbem.  ^  Terrae. 

Op  em  fert  frugibus. 


244  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [244 

Chapter  2.    On  the  circle  of  lands.^ 

1.  The  circle  of  lands  (orbis)  is  so  called  from  its  round- 
ness, which  is  like  that  of  a  wheel,  whence  a  small  wheel  is 
called  orbiculus.  For  the  Ocean  flowing  about  on  all  sides 
encircles  its  boundaries.  It  is  divided  into  three  parts;  of 
which  the  first  is  called  Asia;  the  second,  Europe;  the  third, 
Africa. 

2.  These  three  parts  the  ancients  did  not  divide  equally; 
for  Asia  stretches  from  the  South  through  the  East  to  the 
North,  and  Europe  from  the  North  to  the  West,  and  thence 
Africa  from  the  West  to  the  South.  Whence  plainly  the  two, 
Europe  and  Africa,  occupy  one-half,  and  Asia  alone  the  other. 
But  the  former  were  made  into  two  parts  because  the  Great 
Sea  enters  from  the  Ocean  between  them  and  cuts  them  apart. 
Wherefore  if  you  divide  the  circle  of  lands  into  two  parts. 
East  and  West,  Asia  will  be  in  one,  and  in  the  other,  Europe 
and  Africa. 

Chapter  3.    On  Asia. 

1.  Asia  was  so  called  from  the  name  of  a  certain  woman 
who  held  dominion  over  the  East  in  the  time  of  the  ancients. 
Lying  in  the  third  part  of  the  circle  of  lands  it  is  bounded 
on  the  east  by  the  sun-rise,  on  the  south  by  the  ocean,  on  the 
west  by  our  sea,  on  the  north  by  lake  Maeotis  and  the  river 
Tanais.  It  has  many  provinces  and  regions,  of  which  I  shall 
briefly  explain  the  names  and  sites,  beginning  with  Paradise. 

2.  Paradise  is  a  place  lying  in  the  parts  of  the  Orient,  whose 
name  is  translated  out  of  the  Greek  into  the  Latin  as  hortus. 
In  the  Hebrew  it  is  called  Eden,  which  in  our  tongue  means 
delight.  And  the  two  being  joined  mean  garden  of  delight; 
for  it  is  planted  with  every  kind  of  wood  and  fruit-bearing 
tree,  having  also  the  tree  of  life ;  there  is  neither  cold  nor  heat 
there,  but  a  continual  spring  temperature. 

3.  And  a  spring,  bursting  forth  from  its  center,  waters  the 
whole  grove,  and  divides  into  four  rivers  that  take  their  rise 
there.     Approach  to  this  place  was  closed  after  man's  sin. 

^  See  map,  p.  5. 


245]  ^^^^  ^^^  UNIVERSE  AND  ITS  PARTS  245 

For  it  is  hedged  in  on  every  side  by  sword-like  flame/  that  is, 
girt  by  a  wall  of  fire  whose  burning  almost  reaches  the 
heaven. 

4.  A  guard  of  cherubim,  too,  that  is,  of  angels,  is  set  over 
the  burning  of  the  fiery  rampart  to  ward  off  evil  spirits,  in 
order  that  the  flames  may  keep  men  off,  and  good  angels, 
bad  ones,  that  the  approach  to  Paradise  may  not  be  open  to 
any  flesh  or  to  the  spirit  of  wickedness. 

5.  India  is  so  called  from  the  river  Indus,  by  which  it  is 
bounded  on  the  west.  It  stretches  from  the  southern  sea  all 
the  way  to  the  sun-rise,  and  from  the  north  all  the  way  to 
Mount  Caucasus,  having  many  peoples  and  cities  and  the 
island  of  Taprobana,  full  of  elephants,  and  Chryse  and 
Argyra,  rich  in  gold  and  silver,  and  Tyle,  which  never  lacks 
leaves  on  its  trees. 

Chapter  4.     On  Europe. 

2.  Europe,  which  was  parted  off  to  form  a  third  part  of  the 
circle,  begins  at  the  river  Tanais,  passing  to  the  west  along  the 
Northern  ocean  as  far  as  the  limits  of  Spain.  Its  Eastern  and 
Southern  parts  begin  at  the  Pontus,  extend  along  the  whole 
Mare  Magnum,  and  end  at  the  island  of  Gades. 

Chapter  5.    On  Libya  (Africa). 

3.  It  begins  at  the  boundaries  of  Egypt,^  extending  along 
the  South  through  Ethiopia  as  far  as  Mt.  Atlas.  On  the 
north  it  is  bounded  by  the  Mediterranean  Sea,  and  it  ends  at 
the  strait  of  Gades,  having  the  provinces  Libya  Cyrenensis, 
Pentapolis,  Tripolis,  Byzacium,  Carthago,  Numidia,  Mauri- 
tania Stifensis,  Mauritania,  Tingitana,  and  in  the  neighbor- 
hood of  the  sun's  heat,  Ethiopia. 

14.  Ethiopia  is  so  called  from  the  color  of  its  people,  who 
are  scorched  by  the  nearness  of  the  sun.  The  color  of  the 
people  betrays  the  sun's  intensity,  for  there  is  never-ending 
heat  here.    Whatever  there  is  of  Ethiopia  is  under  the  south 

^  Romphaea  flamma.    Cf.  Etym.,  18,  6,  3. 

2  Egypt  is  regarded  as  part  of  Asia.     14,  3,  27-28 


246  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [246 

pole.  Towards  the  west  it  is  mountainous,  sandy  in  the 
middle,  and  toward  the  eastern  region,  a  desert.  Its  situation 
extends  from  the  Atlas  Mts.  on  the  west  to  the  bounds  of 
Egypt  on  the  east.  It  is  bounded  on  the  south  by  the  ocean, 
on  the  north  by  the  river  Nile.  It  has  many  peoples,  of  di- 
verse appearance  and  fear-inspiring  because  of  their  mon- 
strous aspect. 

17.  Besides  the  three  parts  of  the  circle  there  is  a  fourth 
part  across  the  Ocean  on  the  South,^  which  is  unknown  to  us 
on  account  of  the  heat  of  the  sun,  in  whose  boundaries,  ac- 
cording to  story,  the  Antipodes  are  said  to  dwell. 

Chapter  6.    On  Islands. 

2.  Britannia,  an  island  of  the  Ocean,  completely  separated 
from  the  circle  of  lands  by  the  sea  that  flows  between,  is  called 
by  the  name  of  its  people.  It  lies  in  the  rear  of  the  Gauls  and 
looks  toward  Spain.  Its  circuit  is  4,875  miles ;  there  are  many 
large  rivers  in  it  and  hot  springs,  and  an  abundant  and  varied 
supply  of  metals.    Jet  is  very  common  there,  and  pearls. 

3.  Thanatos,  an  island  of  the  Ocean  in  the  Gallic  sea, 
separated  from  Britain  by  a  narrow  strait,  with  fields  rich  in 
grain  and  a  fertile  soil.  It  is  called  Thanatos  from  the  death 
of  snakes,  for  it  is  destitute  of  them  itself,  and  earth  taken 
thence  to  any  part  of  the  world  kills  snakes  at  once. 

4.  Thyle  is  the  furthest  island  in  the  ocean,  between  the 
region  of  North  and  that  of  West,^  beyond  Britain,  having  its 
name  from  the  sun,  because  there  the  sun  makes  its  summer 
halt,  and  there  is  no  day  beyond  it;  whence  the  sea  there  is 
sluggish  and  frozen. 

6.  Scotia,  the  same  as  Hibernia,  an  island  very  near  Britain, 
narrower  in  the  extent  of  its  lands  but  more  fertile;  this 
reaches  from  Africa  towards  Boreas,  and  Iberia  and  the  Can- 
tabrian  ocean  are  opposite  to  the  first  part  of  it.  Whence, 
too,  it  is  called  Hibernia.    It  is  called  Scotia  because  it  is  in- 

^ Extra  tres  autem  partes  orbis,  quarta  pars  trans  Oceanum  interior 
est  in  Meridie. 
2  See  p.  145. 


247]  ^^'  ^^^  UNIVERSE  AND  ITS  PARTS  247 

habited  by  the  tribes  of  Scots.  There  are  no  snakes  there, 
few  birds,  no  bees;  and  so  if  any  one  scatters  among  bee- 
hives stones  or  pebbles  brought  thence,  the  swarms  desert 
them. 

8.  The  Happy  Isles  (Fortunatae  insulae)  ...  lie  in  the 
Ocean  opposite  the  left  of  Mauretania,  very  near  the  West, 
and  separated  from  one  another  by  the  sea. 

12.  Taprobana  is  an  island  lying  close  to  India  on  the  South- 
east, where  the  Indian  Ocean  begins,  extending  in  length 
eight  hundred  and  seventy-five  miles,  in  width,  six  hundred 
and  twenty-five.  It  is  separated  [from  India]  by  a  river  that 
flows  between.  It  is  all  full  of  pearls  and  gems.  Part  of  it  is 
full  of  wild  beasts  and  elephants,  but  men  occupy  part.  In 
this  island  they  say  that  there  are  two  summers  and  two 
winters  in  one  year,  and  that  the  place  blooms  twice  with 
flowers. 

21.  Delos  is  said  to  be  so  named  because  after  the  flood 
which  is  said  to  have  come  in  the  time  of  Ogygius,  when  con- 
tinuous night  had  overshadowed  the  circle  of  lands  for  mariy 
months,  it  was  lightened  by  the  rays  of  the  sun  before  all 
lands,  and  got  its  name  from  that,  because  it  was  first  made 
visible  to  the  eye.    For  the  Greeks  call  visible  J^Aof 

Chapter  9.    On  the  under  parts  of  the  Earth. 

9.  Gehenna  is  a  place  of  fire  and  sulphur,  which  they  think 
is  so  named  from  the  valley  sacred  to  idols  which  is  near  the 
wall  of  Jerusalem,  which  was  filled  in  former  time  with  bodies 
of  the  dead.  For  there  the  Hebrews  used  to  sacrifice  their 
own  sons  to  demons,  and  the  place  itself  was  called  Gehen- 
non.  Therefore  the  place  of  future  punishment  where  sin- 
ners are  to  be  tortured  is  denoted  by  the  name  of  this  place. 
(We  read  in  Job)  that  there  is  a  double  Gehenna,  both  of 
fire  and  of  frost. 

II.  Just  as  the  heart  of  an  animal  is  in  its  midst,  so  also 
infernus  is  said  to  be  in  the  midst  of  the  earth. 


BOOK  XV 
ON  BUILDINGS  AND  FIELDS 

ANALYSIS 

I.  Cities  (ch.  i). 

Of  India  (6),  Persia  (7-10),  Mesopotamia  (12-13), 
Syria  (14-15),  Palestine  (16-26),  Phoenicia 
(27-28),  Egypt  (31-36),  Asia  Minor  (37-41), 
Greece  (43-48),  Italy  (49-62),  Gaul  (63-65), 
Spain  (66-72),  Northern  Africa  (74-77). 
II.  Architecture.^ 

1.  City  architecture  (ch.  2). 

a.  Kinds  of  cities  (3-14). 

b.  Walls  (17-21). 

c.  Gates,  squares,  sewers,  etc.  (22-46). 

2.  Dwellings  (ch.  3). 

3.  Buildings  for  religious  purposes  (ch.  4). 

4.  Storehouses  (ch.  5). 

5.  Workshops  (ch.  6). 

6.  Entrances  (ch.  7). 

7.  Parts  of  buildings  (ch.  8). 

8.  Defences  (ch.  9). 

*  Architecture  appears  in  a  disintegrated  form  in  the  Etymologies 
(bks.  XV,  chs.  2-12;  xix,  chs.  8-19).  A  comparison  with  Vitruvius's 
work  on  architecture  (translated  by  J.  Gwilt,  London,  1880)  shows  that 
the  main  differences  between  the  subjects  treated  by  Isidore  and  those 
in  Vitruvius's  work  lie  in  the  omission  by  the  former  of  the  account  of 
building  materials  (bk.  ii),  temple  architecture,  water  supply  (bk.  viii), 
dialling,  and  mechanics. 

248  [248 


249]  ^^  BUILDINGS  AND  FIELDS  249 

9.  Tents  (ch.  10). 

10.  Tombs  (ch.  11). 

11.  Buildings  in  the  country  (ch.  12). 

III.  Fields,  landmarks,  land-measures^  (chs.  13-15). 

IV.  Roads  (ch.  16). 

EXTRACTS 

Chapter  i.     On  cities. 

5.  The  Jews  assert  that  Shem,  son  of  Noah,  whom  they  call 
Melchisedeck,  was  the  first  after  the  flood  to  found  the  city 
of  Salem  in  Syria,  in  which  was  the  kingdom  of  the  same 
Melchisedeck.  This  city  the  Jebusaei  held  later,  from  whom 
it  got  the  name  Jebus,  and  so  the  two  names  being  united, 
Jebus  and  Salem  became  Hierusalem,  and  this  was  later  called 
Hierosolyma  by  Solomon,  as  if  Hierosolomonia. 

42.  Constantinople,  a  city  of  Thrace,  Constantine  called 
after  his  own  name,  the  only  city  equal  to  Rome  in  deeds  and 
power.  This  was  first  founded  by  Pausanias,  king  of  the 
Spartans,  and  called  Byzantium,  because  it  extends  between 
the  Adriatic  and  the  Propontis,  or  because  it  is  a  store-house 
for  the  wealth  of  land  and  sea.^  Whence  Constantine  judged 
it  very  fit  to  become  his  store-house  for  land  and  sea.  And 
it  is  now  the  seat  of  Roman  power,  and  the  capital  of  the 
whole  Orient,  as  Rome  is  of  the  Occident. 

66.  Caesaraugusta  Tarraconensis,^  a  town  of  Spain,  was 
both  founded  and  named  by  Caesar  Augustus,  excelling  all 
the  cities  of  Spain  in  the  beauty  of  its  site  and  in  its  attrac- 

*  See  Introd.,  p.  32.  The  two  chapters,  "  De  Mensuris  Agrorum " 
and  "  De  Itineribus,"  together  with  three  chapters  of  bk.  xvi,  "  De 
Ponderibus,"  "  De  Mensuris,"  "  De  Signis,"  are  given  in  Hultsch, 
Metrologicorum  Scriptorum  Reliquiae,  Leipzig,  1886  (Scriptores  Ro- 
niani  in  vol.  ii).  Hultsch  finds  (vol.  ii,  34)  that  Isidore  made  use  of 
Columella  and  a  number  of  minor  writers  on  these  subjects. 

'  Isidore  probably  had  in  mind  some  derivation  of  Byzantium,  which 
would  explain  his  meaning  here,  but  he  gives  no  hint  of  what  it  was. 

*  Saragossa. 


2^0  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [250 

tions  (deliciis),  and  more  famous  than  all,  and  distinguished 
{Horens)  for  the  graves  of  the  sainted  martyrs. 

67.  The  Africans  under  Hannibal  occupied  the  coast  of 
Spain  and  built  Carthago  Spartaria,  which  presently  was 
captured  and  made  a  colony  by  the  Romans,  and  gave  its 
name  also  to  the  province.  But  now  it  has  been  destroyed 
and  reduced  to  desolation  by  the  Goths. 

69.  Caesar  Augustus  built  Emerita  after  he  had  taken  Lusi- 
tania  and  certain  islands  of  the  Ocean,  giving  it  a  name  from 
the  fact  that  he  placed  his  veteran  soldiers  there.  For  vet- 
erans, freed  from  service,  are  called  emeriti. 

70.  Olyssipona  (Lisbon)  was  founded  and  named  by 
Ulysses,  and  at  this  place,  as  historians  say,  the  heavens  are 
separated  from  the  earth  and  the  seas  from  the  lands. 

71.  Hispalis  (Seville)  Julius  Caesar  founded,  and  called 
it  Julia  Romula  from  his  own  name  and  the  name  of  the  city 
of  Rome.  It  is  called  Hispalis  from  its  situation,  because  it 
is  placed  on  marshy  ground,  the  stakes  (palis)  being  driven 
deep,  that  it  might  not  slip  because  of  its  slippery  and  un- 
steady foundations. 

72.  Gades  is  a  town  founded  by  the  Carthaginians  who  also 
founded  Carthago  Spartaria. 

Chapter  4.    On  sacred  buildings. 

8.  Fanes  (Fana)  are  so  called  from  Fauns  to  whom  the 
heathen  blindness  erected  temples  wherein  those  who  sought 
for  guidance  might  hear  the  responses  of  demons. 

9.  Deluhra,  the  name  the  ancients  gave  to  temples  having 
springs  in  which  they  washed  themselves  (diluebantur)  before 
entering.  .  .  .  These  are  at  the  present  time  sanctuaries  with 
sacred  springs  in  which  the  regenerate  faithful  purify  them- 
selves, and  they  were  well  called  deluhra  with  a  sort  of  pro- 
phetic meaning ;  for  they  are  for  the  washing  away  of  sins. 

Chapter  15.    On  land  measurements. 

I.  Measure  is  whatever  limit  is  set  in  respect  to  weight, 
capacity,  length,  height  and  mind  {animus).  And  so  the 
ancients  divided  the  circle  of  lands  into  parts,  the  parts  into 


251]  ON  BUILDINGS  AND  FIELDS  25 1 

provinces,  the  provinces  into  regions,  the  regions  into  dis- 
tricts, the  districts  into  territories,  the  territories  into  fields, 
the  fields  into  centuries,  the  centuries  into  acres  (jugera), 
the  acres  into  climata  [about  sixty  feet  square],  then  the 
dimata  into  actus  [120x4  ft-]>  perches,  paces,  grades 
(gradus)j  cubits,  feet,  palms,  inches,  (uncia),  and  fingers. 
For  so  clever  were  they. 


BOOK  XVI 
ON  STONES  AND  METALS  ^ 

ANALYSIS 

I.  Kinds  of  earth  (ch.  i). 

11.  Earthy  substances  made  out  of  water  (de  glebis  ex 
aqua^)   (ch.  2). 

III.  Common  stones  (ch.  3). 

IV.  The  less  common  stones  (ch.  4). 
V.  Marbles  (ch.  5). 

VI.  Gems  (chs.  6-15). 

1.  Green  gems  (ch.  7). 

2.  Red  gems  (ch.  8). 

3.  Purple  gems  (ch.  9). 

4.  White  gems  (ch.  10). 

5.  Black  gems  (ch.  11). 

6.  Parti-colored  gems  (ch.  12). 

7.  Crystalline  gems  (ch.  13). 

8.  Glowing  gems  (ch.  14). 

9.  Gold-colored  gems  (ch.  15). 

*  Pliny's  five  'books  (xxxiii-xxxvii)  on  mineralogy  in  his  Natural 
History  are  the  chief  source  upon  which  later  writers  drew.  An  epi- 
tome of  them,  or  rather,  an  epitome  of  an  epitome,  was  made  by  Soli- 
nus  in  the  third  century.  This  underwent  a  further  revision  in  the 
sixth  century.  Isidore  is  supposed  to  have  used  both  the  epitome  and 
the  original,  as  well  as  an  unknown  source,  from  which  he  drew  the 
medical  virtues  of  the  precious  stones.  Cf.  King,  The  Natural  History, 
Ancient  and  Modern,  of  Precious  Stones  (London,  1865),  p.  6. 

*  Asphalt,  alum,  salt,  soda,  etc. 

252  [252 


253]  O^  STONES  AND  METALS  253 

VII.  Glass  (ch.  16). 
VIII.  Metals  (chs.  17-24). 

1.  Gold  (ch.  18). 

2.  Silver  (ch.  19). 

3.  Bronze  (ch.  20). 

4.  Iron  (ch.  21). 

5.  Lead  (ch.  22). 

6.  Tin  (ch.  23). 

7.  Amber  (ch.  24). 
IX.  Weights  (ch.  25). 

X.  Measurements  (chs.  26,  27). 

Abbreviations  for  units  of  measurement  (ch.  27). 

EXTRACTS 

Chapter  4.    On  the  less  common  stones. 

3.  G agates  (jet)  was  first  found  in  Cilicia,  thrown  up  by 
the  water  of  the  river  Gagates.  Whence  it  was  named,  al- 
though it  is  very  abundant  in  Britain.  It  is  black,  flat,  smooth, 
and  burns  when  brought  near  to  fire.  Dishes  cut  out  of  it  are 
not  destructible.  If  burned  it  puts  serpents  to  flight,  betrays 
those  who  are  possessed  by  demons,  and  reveals  virginity.  It 
is  wonderful  that  it  is  set  on  fire  by  water  and  extinguished 
with  oil. 

19.  Amiantos  (amianth)  .  .  .  resists  all  poisons,  especially 
those  of  the  magi. 

Chapter  7.    On  green  gems. 

8.  Certain  believe  that  the  jasper  gives  both  attractiveness 
and  safety  to  its  wearers,  but  to  believe  this  is  a  sign  not  of 
faith  but  of  superstition. 

9.  The  topaz  is  of  the  green  sort  and  it  glitters  with  every 
color.  It  was  found  first  in  an  island  of  Arabia  in  which 
Troglodyte  pirates,  worn  out  with  hunger  and  storm,  discov- 
ered it  when  they  pulled  the  roots  of  herbs.  This  island  was 
sought  for  afterward,  and  was  at  length  found  by  seamen, 
being  all  covered  with  clouds.    And  on  this  account  the  place 


254  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [254 

and  the  gem   received  the  name   from  cause.     For   roizdCuv 
in  the  Troglodyte  language  denotes  seeking. 

12.  Heliotropium  ^  .  .  .  receives  the  sun-light  after  the 
manner  of  a  looking-glass,  and  reveals  the  eclipses  of  the 
sun,  showing  the  moon  passing  under.  In  the  case  of  this 
gem  there  is  also  a  most  manifest  proof  of  the  shamelessness 
of  the  magi,  because  they  say  its  wearer  is  not  visible  if  he 
takes  an  infusion  of  the  plant  heliotrope  and  in  addition 
utters  certain  charms. 

Chapter  8.    On  red  gems. 

I.  .  .  .  The  magi  assert  that  [coral]  resists  thunder-bolts, 
— if  it  is  to  be  believed. 

Chapter  10.     On  white  gems. 

4.  Galactites  (milk-stone)  is  milk-white,  and  being  rubbed 
it  gives  a  white  fluid  that  tastes  like  milk,  and  being  tied  on 
nursing  mothers  it  increases  the  flow  of  milk.  If  it  is  hung 
on  the  necks  of  children  it  is  said  to  create  saliva,  and  it  is 
said  to  melt  in  the  mouth  and  take  away  the  memory. 

Chapter  13.    On  crystals. 

1.  It  is  said  that  crystal  glitters  and  is  of  a  watery  color 
because  it  is  snow  that  has  hardened  into  ice  in  the  course  of 
the  years.  ...  It  is  produced  in  Asia  and  Cyprus,  and  es- 
pecially in  the  Alps  of  the  north,  where  there  is  no  hot  sun 
even  in  summer.  Therefore  the  ice  itself  is  bared,  and  hard- 
ening through  the  years  gives  this  appearance  which  is  called 
crystal.  This,  being  set  opposite  to  the  rays  of  the  sun,  so 
seizes  upon  its  flame  that  it  sets  fire  to  dry  fungi  or  leaves. 
Its  use  is  to  make  cups,  but  it  can  endure  nothing  but  what  is 
cold. 

2.  Adamas  .  .  .  Though  this  is  an  unconquerable  despiser 
of  the  steel  and  of  fire,  yet  it  is  softened  by  the  fresh,  warm 
blood  of  stags,  and  then  is  shattered  by  many  blows  of  an 
iron  instrument. 

3.  It  is  said  to  reveal  poisons  as  does  amber  {electron),  to 
drive  away  useless  fears,  to  resist  evil  arts. 

*  Striped  jasper. 


255]  ^^^  STONES  AND  METALS  255 

Chapter  14.     On  glowing  gems. 

7.  Dracontites  is  forcibly  taken  from  the  brain  of  a 
dragon,  and  unless  it  is  torn  from  the  living  creature  it  has 
not  the  quality  of  a  gem;  whence  magi  cut  it  out  of  dragons 
while  they  are  sleeping.  For  bold  men  explore  the  cave  of 
the  dragons,  and  scatter  there  medicated  grains  to  hasten  their 
sleep,  and  thus  cut  off  their  heads  while  they  are  sunk  in 
sleep,  and  take  out  the  gems. 

Chapter  15.     On  yellow  gems. 

17.  Glossoptera  is  like  the  human  tongue  whence  it  took  its 
name.  It  is  said  to  fall  from  heaven  when  the  moon  is  in 
eclipse,  and  the  magi  attribute  great  power  to  it,  for  they 
think  that  to  it  the  motions  of  the  moon  are  due. 

21.  There  are  also  certain  gems  which  the  heathen  use  in 
certain  superstitions. 

22.  By  the  fragrance  of  the  liparia,^  they  relate  that  all 
wild  beasts  are  summoned.  By  the  ananchitis  ^  in  divination 
by  water  they  say  the  likenesses  of  demons  are  summoned. 
By  the  synochitis  ^  they  assert  that  the  shades  of  those  below 
that  have  been  summoned  forth,  are  held. 

23.  Chenelites  is  the  eye  of  the  Indian  tortoise,  of  a  varied 
purple.  By  means  of  this  magi  pretend  that  the  future  is 
foretold,  if  it  is  put  on  the  tongue. 

25.  Hyaenia  is  a  stone  found  in  the  eye  of  the  hyena  and 
they  say  that  if  it  is  placed  under  the  tongue  of  a  man  he 
foretells  the  future. 

Chapter  20.     On  bronze. 

4.  Corinthian  bronze  is  a  mixture  of  all  metals,  and  it  was 
first  made  by  accident  at  Corinth,  when  the  city  was  taken  and 
burned.  For  when  Hannibal  had  taken  the  city,  he  piled  all 
the  statues  of  bronze  and  gold  and  silver  into  one  heap  and 
burned  them. 

Chapter  21.    On  iron. 

2.  There  is  no  body  with  elements  so  dense,  so  closely  inter- 

*  Unknown, 


256  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [256 

lacing  and  interwoven,  as  iron ;  whence  in  it  there  is  hardness 
and  cold. 

Chapter  25.    On  weights. 

1.  It  is  a  delight  to  learn  the  manner  of  weights  and  meas- 
ures. For  all  corporeal  substances,  as  it  is  written,  from  the 
highest  even  to  the  lowest,  are  ordered  and  shaped  within  the 
limits  of  measure,  number,  and  weight.  To  all  corporeal 
things  nature  has  assigned  weight.  Its  own  weight  regulates 
everything. 

2.  Moses,  who  preceded  all  the  philosophers  of  the  nations 
in  time,  first  told  us  of  measures  and  numbers  and  weight  in 
different  passages  in  the  Scripture.  Phidon  of  Argos  was 
the  first  to  establish  a  system  of  weights  in  Greece. 

19.  Uncia  .  .  .  And  it  is  reckoned  a  lawful  weight  for  this 
reason,  that  the  number  of  its  scruples  measures  the  hours  of 
the  day  and  night,  or  because  reckoned  twelve  times  it  makes 
a  pound. 

20.  Libra  (pound)  is  made  up  of  twelve  ounces,  and  thence 
is  counted  a  kind  of  perfect  weight,  because  it  is  made  up  of 
as  many  ounces  as  a  year  is  months.  And  it  is  called  libra 
because  it  is  libera  (free)  and  embraces  all  the  aforemen- 
tioned weights  within  itself. 

23.  Centenarium  is  a  weight  of  one  hundred  pounds.  And 
this  weight  the  Romans  established  because  of  the  perfection 
of  the  number  one  hundred. 

Chapter  26.    On  measures. 

.1.  Measure  is  the  limiting  of  something  in  amount  or  time. 
It  has  to  do  with  either  corporeal  substance  or  time.  It  has 
to  do  with  corporeal  substance  as,  for  example,  the  length 
or  shortness  of  men,  pieces  of  timber,  and  columns;  even  the 
sun  has  a  measure  proper  to  its  circle,  which  geometricians 
dare  to  inquire  into.  It  has  to  do  with  time  as,  for  example, 
hours,  days,  years;  whence  we  say  that  we  measure  the  feet 
of  the  hours. 

2.  But  speaking  in  a  limited  sense,  measure  (mensura)  is 
so  named  because  by  it  fruits  and  grain  are  meted,  that  is, 


257]  ^''^  STONES  AND  METALS  2^J 

wet  and  dry  measure,  as  modius  (peck),  artabo  (three  and 
half  modi),  urna  (pitcher),  amphora  (jar). 

lo.  Modius  (peck)  is  so  named  because  after  its  own  mode 
it  is  perfect.  It  is  a  measure  of  forty-four  pounds,  that  is, 
of  twenty-two  sextarii.  The  cause  of  this  number  is  derived 
from  this,  that  in  the  beginning  God  made  twenty-two  works. 
For  on  the  first  day  he  made  seven,  that  is,  matter  in  the 
rough,  angels,  light,  the  upper  heavens,  earth,  water,  and  air. 
On  the  second  day,  the  firmament  alone.  On  the  third  day, 
four  things:  the  seas,  seeds,  sowing,  and  plantings.  On  the 
fourth  day,  three  things:  the  sun  and  moon  and  stars.  On 
the  fifth  day,  three:  fishes,  and  creeping  things  of  the  water, 
and  flying  creatures.  On  the  sixth  day,  four:  wild  beasts, 
flocks,  creeping  things  of  the  earth,  and  man.  And  in  all 
twenty-two  kinds  were  made  in  the  six  days.  And  there  are 
twenty-two  generations  from  Adam  to  Jacob,  from  whose 
seed  sprang  all  the  people  of  Israel,  and  twenty-two  books  of 
the  Old  Testament  as  far  as  Esther,  and  twenty-two  letters 
of  the  alphabet  out  of  which  the  doctrine  of  the  divine  law  is 
composed.  According  to  these  precedents  a  modius  of  twenty- 
two  sextarii  was  established  by  Moses  according  to  the  meas- 
ure of  the  holy  law,  and  although  different  nations  in  their 
ignorance  add  weight  to  this  measure  or  detract  from  it,  still 
among  the  Hebrews  it  is  kept  unchanged  by  divine  ordinance. 

Chapter  27.    Abbreviations  for  weights. 

I.  The  marks  for  weight  are  unknown  to  most  and  thence 
they  cause  readers  to  err.  So  let  us  add  their  shapes  and 
characters  as  they  were  set  down  by  the  ancients.^ 

^  Twenty-one  of  these  are  named. 


BOOK  XVII 
ON  AGRICULTURE 

ANALYSIS 

I.  Writers  on  rural  affairs  (ch.  i). 
11.  The  cultivation  of  the  fields  (ch.  2). 
III.  Grains  (ch.  3). 
VI.  Leguminous  plants  (ch.  4). 
V.  Vines  (ch.  5). 
VI.  Trees  (chs.  6-y), 

I.  Species  of  trees  (ch.  7). 
VII.  Aromatic  shrubs  (ch.  8). 
VIII.  Aromatic  and  common  herbs  (ch.  9) 
IX.  Vegetables  (chs.  10,  11). 


BOOK  XVIII 
ON  WAR  AND  AMUSEMENTS 

ANALYSIS 

I.  War^  (chs.  1-14). 

1.  Kinds  of  war  (ch.  i). 

2.  Triumphs  (ch.  2). 

^  The  information  on  military  matters  contained  here  and  in  bk.  ix 
was  drawn  ultimately  from  the  succession  of  Roman  writers  on  mili- 
tary science.    The  chief  of  these  were  Frontinus,  Hyginus,  Vegetius. 
258  [258 


259]  O^  ^^^  ^^^  AMUSEMENTS  259 

3.  Standards  (ch.  3). 

4.  Trumpets  (ch  4). 

5.  Armor  (chs.  5-14). 

a.  Swords  (ch.  6). 

b.  Spears  (ch.  7). 

c.  Arrows  (ch.  8). 

d.  Quivers  (ch.  9).  '  . 

e.  Slings  (ch.  10). 

f.  The  battering  ram  (ch.  11). 

g.  Shields  (ch.  12). 

h.  Coats  of  mail  (ch.  13). 
i.  Helmets  (ch.  14). 
11.  The  law-court  {de  foro)  (ch.  15). 

III.  Spectacles^  (chs.  16-59). 

1.  Gymnastic  contests  (chs.  17-26). 

2.  The  circus  (chs.  27-41). 

3.  The  theatre  (chs.  42-51). 

4.  The  amphitheatre  (chs.  52-58). 

5.  Condemnation  of  spectacles  (ch.  59). 

IV.  Gambling  (chs.  60-68). 
V.  Ball-playing  (ch.  69). 

EXTRACTS 

Chapter  16.    On  spectacles. 

I.  Spectacles,  as  I  think,  is  the  general  name  given  to 
pleasures  which  defile  not  of  themselves,  but  through  those 
things  that  take  place  there. 

3.  The  origin  of  the  word  (ludus)  is  of  no  consequence 
when  the  origin  of  the  thing  is  idolatry.  .  .  .  On  this  account 
the  stain  of  its  origin  must  be  regarded,  lest  one  should  re- 
gard as  good  what  took  its  origin  in  evil. 

*  The  title,  De  SpectacuHs,  and  much  of  the  material  are  drawn  from 
Tertullian's  De  SpectacuHs.  See  M.  Klussman,  Excerpta  Tertullianea 
in  Isldori  Hispalensis  Etymologiis  (Hamburg,  1892). 


26o  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [260 

Chapter  2y.    On  the  sports  of  the  circus. 

I.  The  sports  of  the  circus  {ludi  cir censes)  were  established 
on  account  of  worship,  and  because  of  the  honoring  of  the 
heathen  gods.  Whence  those  who  view  them  seem  to  be  fur- 
thering the  worship  of  evil  spirits.  For  horse-racing  was  in 
former  times  practiced  by  itself,  and  its  ordinary  practice  at 
least  was  no  guilt,  but  when  this  natural  practice  was  included 
in  the  games,  it  was  transferred  to  the  worship  of  demons. 

Chapter  41.    On  the  colors  at  the  races.^ 

1.  The  same  heathen  have  associated  the  colors  worn  by 
the  horses  with  the  elements:  likening  the  red  to  the  sun, 
that  is,  to  fire;  the  white  to  air;  the  green  to  earth;  the  blue 
to  the  sea.  Likewise  they  wished  the  red  to  run  in  summer 
because  they  are  of  a  fiery  color  and  all  things  are  of  a  golden 
hue  at  that  time;  the  white  in  winter  because  it  is  icy  and 
everything  is  white;  the  green  during  the  verdure  of  spring, 
because  then  the  vine  leaves  are  thickening. 

2.  They  also  consecrated  the  red  to  Mars  from  whom  the 
Romans  are  sprung,  because  the  Roman  standards  are  adorned 
with  scarlet  or  because  Mars  delights  in  blood.  The  white 
[they  consecrated]  to  western  breezes  and  fine  weather,  the 
green  to  flowers  and  earth,  the  blue  to  the  sea  or  air  because 
they  are  of  a  caerulean  color,  the  golden  or  saffron  to  fire 
and  the  sun,  and  the  purple  to  Iris,  which  we  call  the  bow, 
because  Iris  has  many  colors. 

3.  And  so  while  under  this  pretence  they  pollute  themselves 
with  the  gods  and  the  elements  of  this  world,  they  are  known 
to  be  certainly  worshiping  the  same  gods  and  elements. 
Whence  you  ought  to  notice.  Christian,  how  many  unclean 
gods  they  have  around.  Therefore  the  place  which  many 
spirits  of  Satan  have  seized  shall  be  alien  to  you.  For  all 
that  place  the  devil  and  his  angels  have  filled. 

Chapter  45.     On  tragedians. 

I.  Tragedians  are  they  who  sang  in  mournful  verse  the 

*  Compare  Tertullian.  De  Spectaculis,  chs.  6-9. 


26l]  ON  WAR  AND  AMUSEMENTS  261 

ancient  deeds  and  crimes  of  guilty  kings,  while  the  people 
looked  on. 

Chapter  46.    On  comedians. 

I.  Comedians  are  they  who  represented  by  song  and  gesture 
the  doings  of  men  in  private  life,  and  in  their  plays  set  forth 
the  defilement  of  maidens  and  the  love  affairs  of  harlots. 

Chapter  59.    On  the  execration  of  these. 

I.  These  spectacles  of  cruelty  and  this  gazing  upon  vanities 
were  established  not  only  by  the  fault  of  men  but  by  the 
command  of  demons.  Wherefore  a  Christian  ought  to  have 
nothing  to  do  with  the  madness  of  the  circus,  with  the  shame- 
lessness  of  the  theatre,  with  the  cruelty  of  the  amphitheatre, 
with  the  atrocity  of  the  arena,  with  the  luxury  of  the  Indus. 
For  he  denies  God  who  ventures  on  such  things,  becoming  \ 
violator  of  the  Christian  faith — he  who  seeks  afresh  that 
which  he  long  before  renounced  in  baptism,  that  is,  the  devil, 
his  parades  and  his  works. 


BOOK  XIX 

ON  SHIPS,  BUILDINGS,  AND  GARMENTS  ^ 

i 

ANALYSIS 

I.   Ships*  (chs.  1-6). 

1.  Seamen  (ch.  i,  3-7). 

2.  Kinds  of  ships  (ch.  i,  8-27). 

3.  Parts  of  ships  (ch.  2).  , 

4.  Sails  (ch.  3). 

1  At  this  point  in  his  work  Isidore  turns  from  the  *  sciences '  to  the 
useful  arts. 

'  For  a  similar  subject  and  treatment,  compare  De  Geneve  Navi- 
giorum,  in  Nonius  Marcellus's  encyclopedia.     See  p.  43. 


2^2  ISIDORE  OF  SEVILLE  [262 

5.  Ropes  (ch.  4). 

6.  Nets  (ch.  5). 

11.  Furnaces  of  smiths  (ch.  6). 
I.  Tools  of  smiths  (ch.  7). 
III.  Buildings  (chs.  8-18). 

1.  Construction  (ch.  10). 

2.  Adornment  (chs.   11-17). 

3.  Tools  for  building  (ch.  18). 
IV.  Workers  in  wood  (ch.  19). 

V.  Garments  (chs.  20-29). 

1.  Weaving  (ch.  20). 

2.  The  dress  of  a  priest  under  the  law  (ch.  21). 

3.  The  names  of  other  articles  of  clothing  (ch.  22). 

4.  Peculiar  costumes  of  certain  peoples  (ch.  23). 

5.  Men's  garments  (ch.  24). 

6.  Women's  garments  (ch.  25). 

7.  Bedding,  tablecloths,  and  so  forth  (ch.  26). 

8.  Wools  (ch.  27). 

9.  Colors  of  garments  (ch.  28). 

10.  Instruments  for  making  cloth  (ch.  29). 
VI.  Ornaments  (chs.  3032). 

1.  Head  ornaments  for  women  (ch.  31). 

2.  Rings  (ch.  32). 
VII.  Girdles  (ch.  33). 

VIII.  Footwear  (ch.  34). 


BOOK  XX 

ON  PROVISIONS  AND  UTENSILS  OF  THE  HOUSE- 
HOLD AND  THE  FIELDS 

ANALYSIS 

I.  Tables  (ch.  i). 
IL  Food  (ch.  2). 

III.  Drink  (ch.  3). 

IV.  Dishes. 

1.  For  food  (ch.  4). 

2.  For  drink  (ch.  5). 

3.  For  wine  and  water  (ch.  6). 

4.  For  oil  (ch.  7). 

V.  Cooking  utensils  (ch.  8). 
VI.  Receptacles  (ch.  9). 
VII.  Lamps  (ch.  10). 
VIII.  Beds  and  seats  (ch.  11). 
IX.  Vehicles  (ch.  12). 
X.  Other  utensils  (ch.  13). 
XL  Tools  for  the  country  (ch.  14). 
XII.  Tools  for  the  garden  (ch.  15). 
XIII.  Horse  trappings  (ch.  16). 

263]  263 


APPENDIX  I 


Further  light  on  Isidore's  conception  of  the  earth  can 
be  gained  by  noticing  his  use  of  the  word  terra  in  the  fol- 
lowing passage,  and  comparing  the  passage  with  that  from 
Hyginus  on  which  it  is  based. 


Isidore. 

Nunc  terrae  positionem  de- 
finiemus  et  mare  quibus  locis 
interfusum  videatur,  ordine 
exponemus. 

Terra,  ut  testatur  Hyginus, 
mundi  media  regione  coUo- 
cata,  omnibus  partibus  coeli 
aequali  dissidens  intervallo 
centrum  obtinet. 

Oceanus  autem  regione  cir- 
cumductionis  spherae  pro- 
fusus  prope  totius  orbis  alluit 
fines.  Itaque  et  siderum 
signa  occidentia  in  eum  ca- 
dere  existimantur. 


Regio  autem  terrae  dividi- 
tur  trifariam  e  quibus  una 
pars  Europa,  altera  Asia,  ter- 
tia  Africa  vocatur.  Europam 
igitur  ab  Africa  dividit  mare 
ab  extremis  oceani  finibus,  et 
264 


Hyginus. 


Terra  mundi  media  regione 
collocata,  omnibus  partibus 
aequali  dissidens  intervallo, 
centrum  obtinet  sphaerae. 
Hanc  mediam  dividit  axis  in 
dimensione    totius     terrae. 

Oceanus  autem  regione  cir- 
cumductionis  spherae  pro- 
fusus,  prope  totius  orbis  al- 
luit fines.  Itaque  et  signa  oc- 
cidentia in  eum  decidere  ex- 
istimantur. Sic  igitur  et  ter- 
ras contineri  poterimus  ex- 
planare.  Nam  quaecumque 
regio  est  quae  inter  Arcticum 
et  Aestivum  finem  collocata 
est,  ea  dividitur  trifariam  e 
quibus  una  pars,  Europa;  al- 
tera, Asia;  tertia,  Africa  vo- 
catur. Europam  igitur  ab 
[264 


265] 


APPENDIX 


265 

Africa  dividit  mare  ab  ex- 
tremis Oceani  finibus,  et  Her- 
culi  columnis.  Asiam  vero 
et  Libyam  cum  Aegypto  dis- 
terminat  os  Nili  fluminis  quod 
Canopicon  appellatur.  Asiam 
ab  Europa  Tanais  dividit  bi- 
fariam  se  conjiciens  in  palu- 
dem  quae  Maeotis  appellatur. 
(Hygini  Poeticon  Astron., 
Mythographi  Latini,  Thomas 
Muncherus,Amsterdam,  1681, 
vol.  i,  p.  353') 


Herculi  columnis.  Asiam 
autem  et  Libyam  cum  Ae- 
gypto disterminat  ostium  Nili 
fluvii,  quod  Canopicon  appel- 
latur. Asiam  ab  Europa 
Tanais  dividit  bifariam  se 
conjiciens  in  paludem,  quae 
Maeotis  appellatur.  Asia 
autem,  ut  ait  beatissimus  Au- 
gustinus,  a  meridie  per  ori- 
entem  usque  ad  septentri- 
onem  pervenit.  Europa  vero 
a  septentrione  usque  ad  occi- 
dentem,  atque  inde  Africa  ab 
occidente  usque  ad  meridiem. 
Unde  videntur  orbem  di- 
midium  duae  tenere,  Europa 
et  Africa.  Alium  vero  di- 
midium  sola  Asia.  Sed  ideo 
illae  duae  partes  factae  sunt, 
quia  inter  utramque  ab  Oce- 
ano  ingreditur,  quidquid  aqu- 
arum  terras  influit,  et  hoc 
mare  Magnum  nobis  facit. 
Totius  autem  terrae  mensu- 
ram  geometrae  centum  octo- 
ginta  millium  stadiorum  aes- 
timaverunt.  {De  Natura 
Reriim,  ch.  48.) 

In  the  passage  from  Hyginus,  terra  in  the  singular  is  the 
spherical  earth  occupying  the  centre  of  the  sphere  formed 
by  the  universe.  The  ocean  is  on  the  surface  of  this 
spherical  earth,  and  it  washes  "  the  limits  of  the  circle  of 
lands  ".  For  this  reason  the  heavenly  bodies  "  are  [popu- 
laily]  supposed  to  set  in  it."  Hyginus  then  turns  to  the  dry 
land  {terras),  and  describes  the  land  surface  "between  the 


266  APPENDIX  [266 

boundaries  of  the  Arctic  and  torrid  zones  "  as  divided  into 
three  parts,  Europe,  Asia,  and  Africa. 

In  Isidore  terra  means  in  the  first  instance,  dry  land,  in 
the  second — if  he  realized  the  meaning  of  Hyginus — the 
sphere ;  in  the  third,  the  dry  land ;  in  the  fourth,  the  sphere. 
There  is  no  evidence  that  Isidore  was  conscious  of  having 
made  these  transitions.  He  entirely  omits  the  sentence  in 
which  Hyginus  passes  from  the  subject  of  the  spherical 
earth  to  that  of  the  lands.  It  is  clear  that  Isidore  has 
fallen  into  the  same  confusion  here  as  in  the  passage  quoted 
on  p.  51;  he  uses  the  terminology  of  the  spherical  earth, 
while  having  no  conception  of  anything  but  the  flat  earth.  ^ 

The  difficulty  offered  by  the  word  sphera  in  the  passage 
quoted  above  from  Isidore,  is  not  insuperable,  since  it  is 
clear  from  the  following  passage  that  he  was  not  very 
definite  in  his  notion  of  what  a  sphere  was.  A  sphere  and 
a  circle  apparently  meant  about  the  same  thing  to  him. 

Cujus  perfectionem  spherae  vel  circuli  multis  argumenta- 
tionibus  tractans,  rationabile  Plato  Fabricatoris  mundi  insinuat 
opus.  Prime,  quod  ex  una  linea  constat.  Secundo,  quod  sine 
initio  est  et  sine  fine.  Tertio,  quod  a  puncto  efficitur.  Denuo, 
quod  motum  ex  se  habeat.  Deinde  quod  careat  indicio  angu- 
lorum,  et  quod  in  se  ceteras  figuras  omnes  includat,  et  quod 
motum  inerrabilem  habeat,  siquidem  sex  alii  motus  errabiles 
sunt,  ante,  a  tergo,  dextra,  laevaque,  sursum,  deorsum.  Post- 
remo,  et  quod  necessitate  efficiatur,  ut  haec  linea  ultra  cir- 
culum  duci  non  possit.    D.  N.  R.,  12,  5. 

*  For  passages  illustrating  Isidore's  cosmology,  see  Etym.,  2,  24  2 ; 
3»  52,  I ;  3,  47;  9,  2,  133;  II,  3,  24;  13,  I,  I.  See  also  pp.  50-58  and 
notes. 


APPENDIX  II 
Subdivisions  of  Philosophy 

Philosophy  was  regarded  by  Isidore  as  a  comprehensive 
term  embracing  all  knowledge.  He  gives  its  subdivisions 
as  follows: 


Arithmetica 

Naturalis 

Geometria 

or 

Musica 

Physica 

Astronomia 
Prudentia 

Moralis 

Justitia 

Philosophia 

or 

Fortitude 

Ethica 

Temperantia 

Rationalis 

Dialectica 

or 

Logica 

Logica 

That  Isidore  felt  the  need  of  an  adjustment  of  this  plan 
to  the  Christian  scheme  of  things  is  to  be  perceived  in  the 
statement  with  which  he  accompanies  it,  that  the  Scriptures 
are  made  up  of  the  three  kinds  of  philosophy,  natural, 
moral,  and  rational;  and  in  the  further  statement  that 
Christian  scholars  asserted  the  claims  of  Christian  doc- 
trine (theorica)  to  take  the  place  of  rational  or  logical 
philosophy/ 


267] 


12,  24,  3-8.    See  pp.  73-74,  116-119. 


267 


268 
II. 


APPENDIX 
Naturalis 

Inspectiva    Doctrinalis 
Divinalis 


[268 


Arithmetica 
Geometria 
Musica 
Astronomia 


Philosophia  ' 


Actualis 


Moralis 

Dispensativa 

Civilis 


III. 


Philosophia 


Physica 

or 
Naturalis 


Logica  or 
Rationalis 


Ethica  or 
Moralis 


Arithmetica 

Geometria 

Musica 

Astronomia 

Astrologia 

Mechanica 

Medicina 

Dialectica 
Rhetorica 

Prudentia 
Justitia 
Fortitude 
Temperantia 


In  connection  with  this  outline  also  an  attempt  at  ad- 
justment is  made.     Christian  doctrine  is  placed,  somewhat 


2,  24,  10-16. 


» Diff.,  2,  39. 


269]  APPENDIX  269 

inappropriately,  under  the  head  of  ethical  philosophy: 
"  Wisdom  (prudentia)  is  the  recognition  of  the  true  faith 
and  the  knowledge  of  the  Scriptures,  in  which  one  must 
have  regard  for  the  triple  method  of  interpretation.  The 
first  is  that  by  which  certain  things  are  taken  literally  with- 
out any  figure,  as  the  Ten  Commandments;  the  second  is 
that  by  which  certain  things  in  the  Scriptures  are  taken  in 
a  double  sense,  both  in  the  definite  historic  meaning  and 
in  accordance  with  the  understanding  of  figures,  as  in 
regard  to  Sara  and  Hagar;  first,  because  they  existed  in 
reality,  second,  because  the  two  Testaments  are  figuratively 
denoted  by  them.  The  third  kind  is  that  which  is  taken  in 
a  spiritual  sense  only,  as  the  Song  of  Songs.  For  if  it  is 
understood  according  to  the  sound  of  the  words  and  their 
literal  force,  the  result  is  bodily  wantonness  rather  than  the 
excellence  of  the  inner  meaning.  After  the  definition  of 
wisdom  let  us  now  give  the  parts  of  justice  (jiistitia),  of 
which  the  first  is  to  fear  God,  to  venerate  religion,  to  honor 
parents,  to  love  the  fatherland,  to  help  all,  to  harm  none, 
to  embrace  the  bonds  of  brotherly  love,  to  face  the  dangers 
of  others,  to  bring  aid  to  the  wretched,  to  repay  a  good 
turn,  to  observe  equity  in  judgments."     (Diff.,  2,  39.) 


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